On Sunday, December 6th, digital arts collective The Beat & Path will host an all-day event at Flash Nightclub in celebration of the success of the DC-based web series Walk of Shame with support from the Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP). The event will feature music performances from D.C. top talent, including a headlining performance by E.A.S.Y. – the live electronic duo comprised of award-winning turntablists DJ Shiftee and DC’s own, DJ Enferno. Proceeds from the event will benefit DJ Enferno’s music education non-profit Mix Major, as well as the Dupont Underground, which will provide live art activations by local artists during the event.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.
The award-winning Walk of Shame series was originally funded by a successful crowdsourcing campaign featured on Kickstarter in 2013. Since first airing, film festivals, including the Toronto Web Fest 2015, Miami Web Fest, Brooklyn Web Fest, NYC Web Fest, Rome Web Fest, DC Web Fest and the upcoming Rio Web Fest, have all officially recognized the web series. At the DC Web Fest, Walk of Shame was an award recipient for Local Hero and Audience Choice, and at the Miami Web Fest, the series won awards for both Best Music/Score and Best Supporting Actress (Stephanie Ray Glass). Walk of Shame was recently nominated for an Emerging Voice Award at Brooklyn Web Fest. The series has also won an American University Visions Award for editing, and was nominated for an Emerging Voice Award at Brooklyn Web Fest, Best Cinematography at the Rio Web Fest, and Achievement in Music and Score at the upcoming New York Web Fest.
The six-episode, online-only series depicts a modern coming of age tale as told through the lens of DJ culture. The cast includes characters ranging from youthful bloggers to budding disc jockeys, and the series covers topical themes such as online dating and hipster fashion trends. Episodes are currently being released online with other transmedia content including mixtapes, original music and short web clips.
WHAT: The Beat & Path to host all day celebration at Flash nightclub with support from the Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP)
WHEN: Sunday, December 6, 2015
3PM – 9PM (Full music line-up TBA)
WHO: Performances by E.A.S.Y. (DJ Shiftee & DJ Enferno), Trayze, DJ Amen Ra, Spinser Tracy, Kerim, DJ As-One, DJ Bo, The Editor and more TBA
WHERE: Flash
645 Florida Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
Gypsy Sally’s presents an evening with Benton Blount Band and special guest Trotter Michaels on Thursday, January 28th. Benton is a southern rock-country singer/songwriter and was a finalist on the 10th season of America’s Got Talent.
Benton Blount
“I know people look at me, with my tattoos and appearance, and they don’t think I look like a country singer,” he says. “When I sing, I have a gruffness to my voice that’s different than most country singers too. But when I start to talk, you can hear that I’m as country as cornbread. And the songs, with their real-life stories and positive outlook on life, have more in common with country music than anything else. Country music is where I belong.”Indeed, when this hulking man with the imposing look starts to sing, people often are surprised at his tender love songs and his upbeat view of what people can achieve in their lives. “I like surprising people,” he says. “My life and my career have been full of surprises too. But it’s always a good surprise. I like showing people that this is what I should be doing, and this is where I belong!
Trotter Michaels (formally called The War and Treaty)
Baltimore-based Americana/folk/country/soul duo Tanya Blount Trotter & Michael Trotter Jr. have been creating music since June 2013. Michael plays the keyboard, Tanya plays the tambourine. Occasional accompaniment by a cello player, a mandolin or a guitar player results in a blend of classical, soul, folk, Americana, and love-filled revival convicting lyrics.
SHOW DETAILS
Date: Thursday, January 28, 2016
Venue: Gypsy Sally’s
Address: 3401 K Street NW
Washington, DC
Phone: 202-333-7700
Showtime: 8:00pm, Doors 7:00pm
Ticket price: ADV $12/ DOS $14
Website: www.gypsysallys.com
Valentine’s Day weekend featuring some of the area’s buzziest bands.
The Hamilton is usually home to indie rock concerts, but on Thursday, March 3 it will host an art history class – of a sort.
Walter Martin of the Walkmen’s first solo album for adults (‘Arts & Leisure’) is his wry and witty take on art history. For this special return to his hometown of DC, he’ll play songs about Alexander Calder’s toy circus, Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and first falling in love with art at the National Gallery. Needless to say, this won’t be the art history you studied in college.
NPR Music calls his new album “hard to resist” and the New York Times said it “carries a sense of wonder [with] a wry humor.” Read a recent interview at the Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1ouOMUX
Who: Walter Martin (of The Walkmen) CD Release Show
Where: The Hamilton, 600 14th Street, N.W.
When: Thurs, Mar 3 @ 7:30pm
With: Near Northeast, The Plate Scapers
RSVP: raypadgett@shorefire.com
On Saturday, March 12, DC arts supporters will come together to celebrate the Cathedral Choral Society and its mission of inspiring the community through the joy of choral singing with Gala 1941 at The Mayflower Renaissance Hotel. This gala is the Cathedral Choral Society’s most significant annual fundraising event, and supports the organization’s artistic and community engagement initiatives.
In celebration of the Cathedral Choral Society’s founding year, attendees will enjoy a ritzy evening of 1940s fun with big band swing, guest performers, dancing, and a silent auction. This gala will be “reception style,” with an open bar, food stations, and passed hors d’oeuvres. The sixteen-piece Brooks Tegler Band performs.
“Our spring gala is our most important annual fundraising event,” said Ernie Abbott, President of the Cathedral Choral Society’s Board of Trustees. “On the eve of our 75th anniversary season, this gala is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the artistic programming and community engagement initiatives of this organization. Support from our gala attendees will help ensure artistic vibrancy in our 75th season and beyond.”
Andrew Grossman of The North Country.
Join us for the artist City Paper describes as, “grown-up pop with reliably, disarmingly poetic lyrics and a voice almost distracting in its prettiness.”
The Living Room
Thursday, March 24th
Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 8 PM
The famous Carabinieri Band – one of the greatest military orchestras in the world, founded in 1820 – will play at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on April 18, 2016 in a free concert honoring defenders of the cultural heritage of humanity. In what promises to be a not-to-be-missed-event, 90 musicians in their distinctive uniforms will bring to life traditional marches as well as modern and classical music in the majestic Concert Hall. The rich repertoire will include the national anthems of Italy, the United States and the European Union, as well as music by Sousa, Dvorak, and Puccini.
“We warmly invite all lovers of culture to join us in this international musical tribute to the defenders of human heritage, in one of the most beautiful venues in America” said the Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Armando Varricchio. “We are very grateful to the Kennedy Center for giving our talented Carabinieri Band the opportunity to perform in the splendid Concert Hall, in an event which is free and open to the public. Today, after the recent horrific attacks to our culture and some of our fundamental values – just think of Paris, Tunis and Brussels, to mention but some – it reminds us of the importance of defending culture, and our very way of life, in its entirety”.
The concert is organized by the Embassy of Italy in Washington D.C. in partnership with the Italian Institute of Culture in Washington D.C., with the generous support of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. It is part of the “Protecting our Heritage” initiative, a program supported by UNESCO and organized by the Washington Network of the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC), under the 2016 Italian presidency, in order to raise awareness on the need to act against the growing threats posed to cultural heritage by wars, international terrorism, criminal organizations, climate challenges – or more simply, by neglect.
The concert will also recognize the exceptional work of the Italian Carabinieri both in fostering peace and protecting cultural heritage worldwide: they will be part of UNESCO’s “blue helmets for culture” program, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed on February 16, 2016 in Rome by the Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and by Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO.
About the Carabinieri Band
The Carabinieri Band was founded in 1820 when the then Royal Carabinieri Corps assembled a group of buglers for the first time. In 1862 this became a fanfare, and by 1920 had developed into a full Band contingent of the Carabinieri Force. Under the direction of Maestro Luigi Cajoli the Band became famous for its quality of style, and in 1916 it travelled abroad for the first time for a series of concerts for injured allied soldiers. It performed with great success in Paris, and was highly acclaimed by the press. Many other prestigious tours abroad followed, from Europe to North and South America, the Middle East and Japan. Maestro Luigi Cirenei, who was a pupil of Pietro Mascagni, succeeded Cajoli in 1925. He improved the artistic skills of the Band and composed “LA FEDELISSIMA” the march theme adopted by the Carabinieri Force. Other band directors included: Maestro Domenico Fantini (1947), Maestro Vincenzo Borgia (1972) and Maestro Massimo Martinelli (2001), who is the present Director. The Carabinieri Band, with 103 musicians, each one an expert in a particular instrument, interprets the most famous compositions with a rich repertoire ranging from traditional military marches to modern and classical music.
The event will be held on Monday, April 18, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. RSVP here http://iicwashington.info/events/20160418/rsvps/
For the second year in a row Silent Dance Society (SDS) enlivens DC neighborhoods with a late night music and dance experience that doesn’t disturb any neighbors. The multisensory Silent Disco experience lets guests dance to 3 different music genres played by 3 live DJs as they take in the summer air and gorgeous views from city’s best rooftops. The wireless headset technology lets attendees completely submerge into the music as they switch between the different live streaming DJ channels. The music is transmitted directly to each headset so that one can adjust the volume to their liking or step away from the dance floor without losing the beat.
In partnership with the Cambria Hotel & Suites, SDS is bringing the weekly Silent Disco experience to Shaw neighborhood – every Saturday, May 7th through September 3rd from 8pm – 12am.
In partnership with the Embassy Ro Hotel, SDS is bringing the weekly Silent Disco experience to Dupont Circle neighborhood – every Friday, May 20th through September 2nd from 6pm-11pm
WHO: 3 Live DJs, 3 Different Music Channels, 1 Open Air Dance Floor
WHEN: Season Kick-off – Saturday, May 7th
8pm-12am
WHERE: Cambria Rooftop, 899 O Street NW, Washington DC
TICKETS: $10-15 online headset rental; $20 at the door if not sold-out http://silentdisco-may7.eventbrite.com, www.silentdancesociety.com
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) commemorates its milestone 35thanniversary with Carmina 35 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall onSunday, May 8, 2016 at 8 p.m., under the direction of Artistic Director Thea Kano. For more information, visit www.GMCW.org.
GMCW partners with New York’s Gallim Dance and 40 members of the New York City Master Chorale to perform a perennial favorite of classical music, Carl Orff’s canonical Carmina Burana. Soloists lending their talent to this performance are soprano Paige Cutrona, tenor Robert Baker, and baritone Young Kwang Yoo. The performance will also feature new choreography by the industrious Andrea Miller, Artistic Director for Gallim Dance.
A leading contemporary dance company based in New York, this collaboration complements the ethos of Gallim Dance, which celebrates the human spirit through works deeply rooted in the human experience of love, struggle and spirituality. Miller created a loose narrative for nine dancers, harnessing the passion and physicality that the music inspires to explore different relationships—same sex and heterosexual, romantic, platonic, and familial. She channels a spectrum of emotions—passion, sexuality, tension, struggle, joy—through characteristically big, bold movement.
This production of Carmina Burana will also be performed at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
Orff’s sweeping masterwork is paired with touchstones from GMCW’s history. The second half of the concert will be bookended with significant works commissioned by GMCW— “Build A House” fromAlexander’s House and “This House Shall Stand” from Songs of My Family. The Chorus will also perform favorite selections from past concerts, as well as “This Train,” the first song rehearsed at GMCW’s inaugural rehearsal in 1981, GMCW’s anthem “Make Them Hear You” from Broadway’s Ragtime, and “We Kiss in Shadow,” performed by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus at the Kennedy Center in 1980, which served as the inspiration to start a DC-based gay men’s chorus.
Historical significance
A torchbearer and consistent, unified voice for equality, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has been a steady presence in its community and at historic events that have impacted LGBT people. In 2013, GMCW sang on the steps of the Supreme Court when the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down, and returned in 2015 to sing jubilantly when the court ruled in favor of marriage equality. That same year, GMCW was the first LGBT chorus invited to perform in Cuba on a 10-day cultural and educational tour, helping to spread awareness about equality. The chorus sang at the Lincoln Memorial in 2008 for the first inauguration of President Barack Obama, performing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” with Josh Groban and Heather Headley. Additionally, GMCW vocal ensemble Potomac Fever performed at the White House in 2012 for the first-ever LGBT reception honoring rising LGBT leaders.
The chorus has grown from 90 members in its first season to more than 200 singing members today, educating and entertaining more than 10,000 patrons annually.
