Lindy Promotions, DC 101, Hot 99.5, and Coors Light are teaming up once again for the 18th annual, Downtown Countdown New Year’s Eve Party at the luxurious Washington Hilton!
The Downtown Countdown has been the premier New Year’s Eve celebration since it’s first year, and that tradition continues into 2015! Your all-inclusive ticket includes a 5-hour premium open bar, full dinner buffets, multiple bands, DJs, comedians, live band acoustic karaoke, and the largest Midnight Balloon drop in the District!
The featured performers have always been the backbone to the Downtown Countdown, and this year will be no different. One the greatest bands of the late 90’s and early 00’s, Third Eye Blind will rock the stage as the clock strikes midnight! If that’s not enough, VH1’s “You Oughta Know” artist of the month, Delta Rae, will be there as well. If live bands aren’t your thing, then you can dance the night away in Club ’15 with Hot 99.5 & DJ Dirty Elbows! There will also be multiple comedians, and live acoustic karaoke to help you live out your very own rock star fantasies!
If you would like to make your New Year’s experience even more special, VIP tickets are available!
VIP ticketholders will enjoy their own registration and check in area, complimentary coat check, and an additional hour of a top shelf open bar. VIP members will also gain exclusive access to VIP lounges, complete with extra seating and higher bartender to guest ratios. Most importantly, Third Eye Blind and Delta Rae will be performing an exclusive VIP only acoustic performance!
Tickets are on sale now with General Admission tickets selling for just $109 and VIP for $175. Guests also have access to exclusive discounted room rates, starting at just $189 at the Washington Hilton.
To purchase tickets, make reservations, or find out more about the Downtown Countdown, go to www.downtowncountdown.net
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WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31 AN AMERICANA NEW YEAR!
featuring YARN
Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line
South Rail
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Grammy-nominated YARN is leading a roots music revolution! One of the hardest-working and harder-touring bands out there, YARN is inspiring a generation of fans (the “Yarmy”) who want fresh music they can believe in and follow. Yarn’s first four albums were recognized by the AMA’s and R&R radio charts, spending time in the top 5 at their highest point. Their most recent album, Almost Home, was produced by Bil VornDick, whose credits include Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley and Bob Dylan among others.
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With a delightful stage presence and rich storytelling (she’s an NYU-educated ex-English teacher), not to mention a killer band (The Party Line), Nashville’s darling,NORA JANE STRUTHERS produces a modern mash-up of tradition and innovation. She’s been described as mesmerizing, arresting and haunting, all attempts to characterize her winning combination: magical lyrics, masterful vocals and deft instrumentation. There’s a reason she took first place at Colorado’s prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2010, just after the release of her solo debut Nora Jane Struthers — she is that special.
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Honing their sound in and around the Washington DC area for the last two years, SOUTH RAIL has built a reputation on the quality of their live performance. Their self-titled EP released in 2013 was ranked as DC’s 6th Best Release of the Year in any genre by Brightest Young Things. Their most recent EP, Stars,released in May 2014 was produced by Don Was (current president of Blue Note Records) and led to a summer of festival appearance alongside nationally recognized acts. South Rail is on the move!
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SHOW INFO
WHERE: GYPSY SALLY’S
3401 K Street NW 20007
(under the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown)
WHEN: Wednesday December 31
TIME: Doors 7 PM / Show 8:30 PM
FULL DINNER MENU AVAILABLE BEGINNING AT 7 PM
PRICE: ADVANCE TICKETS: $45 Standing
DAY OF/DOOR: $50 Standing
TICKET INCLUDES MIDNITE CHAMPAGNE TOAST
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Pike & Rose, the new pedestrian-oriented, urban-minded neighborhood in the heart of Montgomery County, Maryland, and a key component in the revitalization of the White Flint District, is pleased to announce the first-ever Pike & Rose Audio Visual Arts (PRAVA) Festival. The free-to-attend event on Saturday, February 7, 6PM – 2AM, is a one-night immersive art experience featuring international, national, and regional artists.
Artists from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New York, Boston, and the Netherlands will present musical performances and art installations spanning 40,000 square feet over three floors of office space at Pike & Rose. The event is open to guests 18 and older and is free to attend with online registration at www.PRAVAFest.org.
PRAVA is curated and produced by Nuit Blanche New York (NBNY) in partnership with Materials & Methods.
Featured PRAVA artists include:
Allard Van Hoorn, a Netherlands-based sound, installation and performance artist will collaborate with Baltimore’s Charm City Roller Girls to turn the 6th floor of the office building into a choreographed roller arena. Van Hoorn will create electronic music live by recording and remixing the sounds of the roller skates as they move around and through the audience.
Matmos, an experimental duo originally from San Francisco and now based in Baltimore, incorporates odd, unusual, and ‘found’ sounds into its rhythmic music, sampling sounds ranging from cards shuffling to a frozen stream thawing in the sun.
Mal Devisa will perform songs from her EP, For Daisy with Honey, and her most recent album, 4U. A solo artist based in Amherst, MA, whose music draws from indie favorites, jazz notes, and lo-fi rock, Mal Devisa plays the bass, keyboard, and drum. A sound-reactive light show will illuminate the audience with each kick she gives the bass drum on stage.
Johnathon Monaghan, a DC-based artist, will present his video, “Office,” which depicts a highly-realistic office space containing an elaborate Baroque sculpture framed with blue neon tubing. As the video continues, the sculpture of a long-dead aristocrat explodes in slow motion across the uninhabited office. Set to tinkling music, the video progresses with a hypnotic pace.
Brian Chase, the drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and Ursula Scherrer, a New York City-based video artist, will collaborate to create an improvised audio-visual piece. Responding to Chase’s performance, Scherrer will use multiple projectors to create a mesmerizing, visual landscape.
GEMS, DC’s dream-pop duo, will perform new songs and their debut EP, Medusa. The duo makes romantic, heartbreaking music: Clifford John’s supporting, low voice balances Lindsay Pitts’ haunting pitch as they effortlessly weave their voices with hazy guitar sounds and lush synthesizers, all punctuated by a strong, danceable beat.
POV Live presents HEARTBREAK HOTEL For all you lovers and love-haters out there, join us for a special dance party to kick off the Valentine’s Day weekend featuring some of the area’s buzziest bands. Featuring local artists: Furniteur Pleasure Curses Outputmessage
$10 cocktail specials!
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As part of his new 20+ city national tour, Harry Connick, Jr. will perform two shows in the Music Center at Strathmore on Friday, February 20 and Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 8 p.m.—making Strathmore the only venue hosting back-to-back concerts during this tour. The shows will feature music from Connick’s vast musical catalog, including songs from his most recent releases Smokey Mary and Every Man Should Know. To date, Connick has released 29 albums, won three Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards, and garnered sales of 28 million. Tickets are currently on sale to Strathmore Stars, and will be available to the general public on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 10 a.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.
With Every Man Should Know, Connick triumphs once again with a depth of feeling that signals another milestone for one of the music world’s most multi-faceted artists. Critics have been quick to agree with People Magazine calling it “impressive,” and the Boston Globe saying the album features “his most thoughtful and personal songs to date” and says it’s “an album that every Harry Connick, Jr. fan should own.”
Connick recently returned for a second year as judge on “American Idol,” with season 14 of the show premiering in January 2015. Since his addition to the judges’ panel, critics and fans alike have praised Connick’s contributions to the show, with Variety proclaiming that Connick “brings fun back to American Idol,” and Entertainment Weekly raving that he brings a “frank honesty but also lighthearted energy” to the show, “offering thoughtful critiques” resulting in a “fun, rollicking viewing experience.” Regarding his debut as a judge in season 13, USA Today stated that “Connick deserves most of the praise for what promises to be a creative turnaround for Idol… While Connick can be as tough as he needs to be, he’s also charming, engaging and, when he wants to be, hysterically funny.”
As part of his new 20+ city national tour, Harry Connick, Jr. will perform two shows in the Music Center at Strathmore on Friday, February 20 and Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 8 p.m.—making Strathmore the only venue hosting back-to-back concerts during this tour. The shows will feature music from Connick’s vast musical catalog, including songs from his most recent releases Smokey Mary and Every Man Should Know. To date, Connick has released 29 albums, won three Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards, and garnered sales of 28 million. Tickets are currently on sale to Strathmore Stars, and will be available to the general public on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 10 a.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.
With Every Man Should Know, Connick triumphs once again with a depth of feeling that signals another milestone for one of the music world’s most multi-faceted artists. Critics have been quick to agree with People Magazine calling it “impressive,” and the Boston Globe saying the album features “his most thoughtful and personal songs to date” and says it’s “an album that every Harry Connick, Jr. fan should own.”
Connick recently returned for a second year as judge on “American Idol,” with season 14 of the show premiering in January 2015. Since his addition to the judges’ panel, critics and fans alike have praised Connick’s contributions to the show, with Variety proclaiming that Connick “brings fun back to American Idol,” and Entertainment Weekly raving that he brings a “frank honesty but also lighthearted energy” to the show, “offering thoughtful critiques” resulting in a “fun, rollicking viewing experience.” Regarding his debut as a judge in season 13, USA Today stated that “Connick deserves most of the praise for what promises to be a creative turnaround for Idol… While Connick can be as tough as he needs to be, he’s also charming, engaging and, when he wants to be, hysterically funny.”
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Washington Project for the Arts & Forest City Present LASER CAT at The Yards with support from The JBG Companies
DATES: Friday & Saturday, February 20 & 21, 8-11pm Saturday, February 21, 12-4pm PRESS PREVIEW: Friday, February 20, 5:30-6:30 LOCATION: 200 Tingey Street SE, Washington DC 20003
January 14, 2014 (Washington, DC) – Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) and Forest City present an event unlike anything seen in Washington! The Yards welcomes Laser Cat, a 20-foot tall inflatable cat head that projects lasers and art from its eyes.
Friday evening will feature live DJ’s fueling the Laser Cat party, led by Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton. Saturday evening’s party will project images produced by local artists, accompanied by beats from Laser Cat. On Saturday afternoon, Laser Cat will be open from 12 – 4pm for families to experience a mellower side of the inflatable feline. A heated tent with a beer garden and other program components will be adjacent to the historic industrial building in which Laser Cat will be staged. |
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ABOUT LASER CAT & HUNGRY CASTLE
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Commissioned by ADC and conceived by Hungry Castle, this interactive installation debuted at the ADC Festival of Art + Craft in Advertising and Design held in Miami Beach. As its name suggests, Laser Cat is a giant cat with lasers for eyes that uses high-powered projectors to beam people’s personal art onto public buildings. Laser Cat curates the art submitted, but it’s the public that fires it into public space. The viewer controls the content by pressing a giant button to change the art, lasers, and music. So far, Laser Cat has received over 15,000 personal art submissions.
Based in Barcelona, Hungry Castle is the creative studio featuring Dave Glass and Killian Cooper that specialize in creating public art and fashion, which they call Cool Shit. Working collectively since 2011 their goal has always been to make big, playful things of cultural impact and use design thinking in a way that truly engages people. Influenced by Shepard Fairey’s prolific use of public space with the “Obey Giant” campaign, the artists combine unique, 3-dimensional pieces with large-scale production a la Jeff Koons, but with an added interactive ingredient to create a fully immersive experience between audience and art.
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Washington Project for the Arts & Forest City Present LASER CAT at The Yards with support from The JBG Companies
DATES: Friday & Saturday, February 20 & 21, 8-11pm Saturday, February 21, 12-4pm PRESS PREVIEW: Friday, February 20, 5:30-6:30 LOCATION: 200 Tingey Street SE, Washington DC 20003
January 14, 2014 (Washington, DC) – Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) and Forest City present an event unlike anything seen in Washington! The Yards welcomes Laser Cat, a 20-foot tall inflatable cat head that projects lasers and art from its eyes.
Friday evening will feature live DJ’s fueling the Laser Cat party, led by Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton. Saturday evening’s party will project images produced by local artists, accompanied by beats from Laser Cat. On Saturday afternoon, Laser Cat will be open from 12 – 4pm for families to experience a mellower side of the inflatable feline. A heated tent with a beer garden and other program components will be adjacent to the historic industrial building in which Laser Cat will be staged. |
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ABOUT LASER CAT & HUNGRY CASTLE
______________________________
Commissioned by ADC and conceived by Hungry Castle, this interactive installation debuted at the ADC Festival of Art + Craft in Advertising and Design held in Miami Beach. As its name suggests, Laser Cat is a giant cat with lasers for eyes that uses high-powered projectors to beam people’s personal art onto public buildings. Laser Cat curates the art submitted, but it’s the public that fires it into public space. The viewer controls the content by pressing a giant button to change the art, lasers, and music. So far, Laser Cat has received over 15,000 personal art submissions.
Based in Barcelona, Hungry Castle is the creative studio featuring Dave Glass and Killian Cooper that specialize in creating public art and fashion, which they call Cool Shit. Working collectively since 2011 their goal has always been to make big, playful things of cultural impact and use design thinking in a way that truly engages people. Influenced by Shepard Fairey’s prolific use of public space with the “Obey Giant” campaign, the artists combine unique, 3-dimensional pieces with large-scale production a la Jeff Koons, but with an added interactive ingredient to create a fully immersive experience between audience and art.
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The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will present its seventh annual “Nowruz: A Persian New Year Celebration” free family festival Saturday, March 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Throughout the day, visitors of all ages can learn, play and feast at a celebration encompassing both museums to mark Nowruz, the beginning of the new year of 1394 in Iran, Afghanistan and many other countries, coinciding with the first day of spring.
At 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., visitors can relive the Iranian music scene of the 1960s and 1970s with updated versions of classic songs made famous by the likes of Googoosh, Hayedeh, Pari Zangeneh and Parva, along with mesmerizing bandari-beat tunes by Zia Atabi. The band Mitra Sumara, based in New York, features Iranian American vocalist Yvette Perez (pictured below), and re-energizes Persian pop with influences ranging from salsa and disco to Nigeria’s Fela Kuti and Middle Eastern rhythms.Visitors will be able to hear storyteller Xanthe Gresham weave tales from Persian literary classics, learn about the Freer and Sackler’s rich collection of 19th-century Persian photographs, discover the meaning of colorful “Haft Sin” table displays and then make their own, watch a master calligrapher at work and dress up in traditional costumes for photos recreating a Persian painting. Other activities include “fire” jumping for good luck in the new year, backgammon and chess matches, face painting and a hands-on workshop in the ImaginAsiaclassroom for families to make crowns and shields inspired by the Shahnama (Book of kings). Docents will elaborate on important works in the exhibitions “Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy” and “Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran” to offer glimpses of Iran’s rich artistic traditions.
Persian literature enthusiasts can enjoy book-signing sessions at the Sackler store for Two Parrots–a children’s book adapted from the poet Rumi’s celebrated work–signed by illustrator Rashin from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, signed by author Najmieh Batmanglij from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Persian cuisine by Moby Dick and thematic greeting cards will be available for purchase.
The annual event, celebrated in advance of the true holiday March 21, regularly draws crowds of 10,000 visitors, and is made possible by a gift from Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar.
On March 19, the new year celebration will continue with a free concert by Grammy-nominated artists Kayhan Kalhor and Shujaat Khan. In “Ghazal: Indian and Persian Improvisations,” the musicians will reunite for the first time in more than 10 years to perform their unique blend of Indian and Persian classical music.
The annual Nowruz lecture will take place March 29, co-sponsored with the Foundation for Iranian Studies. This year’s distinguished speaker will be Azar Nafisi, the best-selling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I’ve Been Silent About. In the lecture, Nafisi will discuss her latest work, The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books.
FEATURED COLLECTIONS
On view at the Sackler until May 3, “Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy” is the first exhibition to focus on one of the most aesthetically refined forms of Persian culture developed during the 14th-16th centuries: nasta’liq, a type of calligraphy so beautiful that for the first time the expressive form of the words eclipsed their meaning. Also on view will be “Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran” featuring one of the largest collections of luxury metalwork from ancient Iran. In the Freer Gallery, visitors can enjoy one of the finest holdings of Islamic art in the United States, with particular strengths in ceramics and illustrated manuscripts.
Iranian photographs from the Freer and Sackler Archives’ collection of more than 1,100 original 19th-century prints and glass-plate negatives by Antonin Sevruguin and other Persian photographers will screen for visitors throughout the day. The collection–the largest public holdings of Sevruguin’s photographs outside Iran–was recently digitized and cataloged in its entirety.
