As wine professionals, this is the time of year when we go into overdrive helping you, the consumer, fulfill all of your wine needs for parties and gift giving. As wine lovers, we relish being able to share our love of wine with others. We know that buying wine anytime can be an overwhelming an experience, but possibly more so now that you have to cover your family, friends, co-workers, and a mystery person whose......

>> Tonight's Girl Talk show at Black Cat is sold-out, but if you're desperate to go after reading our interview with opener Dan Deacon, craigslist has some options. Also White Williams, 8 p.m. >> The Hall Monitors heated up the DCist servers with their Three Stars appearance a few months back, and tonight they'll be warming up the stage for Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray's Heavy Trash and Denmark's pshychobilly trio Powersolo at the......

When Open Circle Theater company announced it would be reworking Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World to revolve around the Iraq war, it was hard to squelch images of flag-waving, canons booming, and rewritten lyrics resembling "I’m not afraid of anything/be it religious extremists, guns or sand." Fortunately, Open Circle’s take has much more sincerity, skill and imagination driving their interpretation, though ultimately, the work stands up better unadorned. Songs, which recently was......

The doldrums of August are notorious in D.C. - the politicians leave, the lobbyists take vacation, and overtaken by humidity, the city doesn't pulse with as much life as it normally does. The theater world is often no exception, with many houses remaining dark during the month. Luckily, a couple companies are intrepid enough to mount productions regardless, and here are some of the highlights: The always thoughtful Journeymen Theater tries its hands at Getting......

MONDAY: Freelance journalist and award-winning author Kieran Doherty will be at Olsson's in Old Town Alexandria to discuss her latest book, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World, which chronicles the ship that went on to rescue Jamestown, even after most of the crew almost died in a hurricane. 7 p.m. Chasing Che author Patrick Symmes decided to go chasing Fidel Castro's former classmates when he......

Any wine lover can tell you that when you pick up a bottle from Bordeaux or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the wine will usually consist of multiple varietals. Red Bordeaux is usually some combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot with perhaps a little Malbec or Petit Verdot. While red Châteauneufs are usually Grenache, Syrah, or Mourvedre based. When you pick up a bottle from California and it says Cabernet Sauvignon on it, you know what it......

When you grow up an obsessive musical theater fan, sometimes it can be a rude awakening when your artistic tastes mature. Appreciation for the best shows' haunting melodies, clever wordplay, or epic spectacle remains; unconditional love for the shows heavy on the schmaltz factor can fade (suddenly Phantom of the Opera doesn't seem like the world's most enduring love story anymore). But for recovering musical theater lovers, enduring lifelong fans, or even skeptics of the......

One of only three art schools in the nation that are affiliated with a world-class museum, the Corcoran College of Art + Design is a powerhouse in the "art schools of America" roster, ranking high in the Princeton Review (but receiving a ‘C’ average among current pupils and alumni). Founded in 1890, the school is the District’s only four-year, fully-accredited college of art and design. The Corcoran Gallery of Art has finally dedicated a gallery......

MONDAY As a part of its ongoing “Face It: We Are Probably All Going To Die or at the Very Least, Suffer Immeasurably” Series, Politics and Prose kicks off the week with a visit from Stephen Flynn, author of The Edge of Disaster, which, apparently, we are teetering on (cf. “all going to die,” “suffer immeasurably”). Also: CSI: Miami is on tonight! 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 7 p.m. TUESDAY The art of letter writing is......

As April was the month of 80 zillion new play openings, we kind of thought things would slow down a bit for the theater community in May. Not the case – we’ve got lots of exciting productions to share with you, from post-modern Hamlet comedies to, well, Hamlet itself. Plus, something new from the guy behind “Schindler’s List”. Here’s what’s playing. Catalyst Theater impressed all its larger competitors by taking home the award for best......

What is Modern? Is it a teapot, an office chair, or the architecture of a building? Is it characterized by clean lines and minimalist tendencies? Something mass-produced for the worker and staunchly anti-Bourgeois? Is it an idealist utopia? This is the question that the Corcoran set out to answer in its exhibit Modernism Designing a New World, 1914 – 1939. Showcasing over 400 works encompassing a broad range of media, including industrial and graphic design,......

FRIDAY: >> Print out this PDF and take it to Local 16 between 6 to 9 p.m. tonight to receive a free drink, courtesy the Not For Tourists Guide to Washington, DC 2007. They'll also be giving away free copies of the Guide. >> Local rockers The Pharmacy Prophets are brewing up a high-concept hootenanny at Iota tonight. When the band takes the stage, they'll simultaneously be filming live concert footage for a multimedia project......

>> The Corcoran is the place to be for art this weekend when they open the mammoth exhibit Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939 on Saturday. The show will appeal to more than straight-up art lovers — wannabe urban planners (we know we've got some of those around here) will find a survey of industrial architecture; politicos can engage in an examination of the era's struggle for national identity; fashionistas can check out the styles......

FRIDAY: >> Mike Doughty's band, which we assume will in fact include Mike Doughty, are taking the 9:30 Club stage tonight for a show that as of this writing is still not sold out. If you people need a reason to go above and beyond his music, allow us to present into evidence Exhibit A and Exhibit B. Oh, and Exhibit C: DCist's awesome interview with him back in September. With Kevin Devine, 8 p.m.,......

Looking to put an imprimatur on your burgeoning wine-swilling habit? On Monday, January 16, the Washington Wine Academy will hold its first class in the WSET’s five-week Intermediate level course at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City. What is the WSET? Although you’re not wrong if you answered that the WSET is ABC’s Lynchburg, Va. affiliate (or, for that matter, the Western Society of Electrodiagnostic Technologists), you’re more correct for our purposes if you......

Drinking In is a new DCist feature that offers wine pairing suggestions for each Eating In recipe. Look for Drinking In the day after an Eating In is published. By DCist Food and Wine Contributor Michael Mugmon. Lobster macaroni and cheese screams out -- well, burbles furiously -– for a buttery New World chardonnay. And not one of those flabby, backyard fence-scented oak bombs that sparked the "Anything But Chardonnay" movement. Rather, DCist recommends a......

In the summer, concert life in Washington becomes less frenzied in the places where we hear music the most during the regular season. At the same time, some old friends return for their expected summer performances. So, while we will not be telling you about a lot of concerts, you can still find some classical music to hear this week. More information is available at our Classical Week in Washington column at Ionarts. EARLY MUSIC:......

Today the whole world counts lines of longitude away from Greenwich, England. But the globally accepted prime meridian running through the Royal Greenwich Observatory is a relatively new development. At one time, most every important city had its own line: Rome, Jerusalem and St. Petersburg, among others. Of course, for a meridian line to be taken seriously by navigators and mapmakers, one had to publish an ephemeris, viz. an almanac of points on the ground......

While the infamous white van from the D.C.-area sniper saga of 2002 is still in our memories, we have a new van to worry about. The arsonists in the Hunters Brooke fire may have driven a blue van to do their deed. Firefighters noticed that a blue van was driving away from Hunters Brooke (an example home at right) when they were arriving on the scene of the massive subdivision fire, the Post reports. There......