Freshly tanned and thoroughly healthy after some much-needed recovery at the beach, I actually experienced a full, fantastic weekend and am getting some confidence back - been so agoraphobic all summer! I am grateful that a dear friend in town for consultations from her post in Mexico is here with me. It was refreshing to do our old Georgetown drill this weekend in fantastic weather. We totally eschewed Adams Morgan Day, literally half a block from Casa Skunkeye; whatever city pride I’ve had has moved on. Seriously, I think I’ve been through Georgetown maybe once or twice since May… it used to be my stopping off point to catch a film and do some shopping en route to crossing the Key Bridge to visit with my grandmother in Arlington.

Saturday attended a grand art opening bonanza at the galleries at 1515 14th street. From all appearances and given the turnout, looks like the DC art scene is getting vital and energetic again. It was quite a circus and all the players were there. The space, next door to the newly-renovated Studio Theater, is really quite impressive. Too bad I’m hell-bent on Baltimore right now! Ground floor, in a temporary space that will be soon turned into a most-likely impossibly trendy and pricey restaurant, Viridian, by Furioso Development, was Wrinkle Free, a 30-year retrospective of Joe Cameron and Paul Feinberg's photographs of Washington artists. It was great to see the magnificent photo of my mother’s childhood buddy, Rebecca Davenport, and portraits of former neighbor Gene Davis and Sam Gilliam, both of whom my folks have had in their collections. In the upper-level, permanent galleries were, among others, Renee Stout's Fragments of a Secret Life at Hemphill (I was honored to chat with one of DC’s most-preeminent artist a bit), a mélange of Chuck Close, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something: Prints, Daguerreotypes, and Holograms, at Adamson (while he was not present for the festivities, I did meet the artist ten years ago!), and the impressive Symbioland: Works by Jiha Moon, at Curator’s Office.

Lest I forget, had a Feist reunion at the Birchmere in Arlandria  - the Mt. Pleasant of VA - on Sunday… The new venue has become kind of a comically-endearing local Grand Old Opry but vital nonetheless. Opening act, local-DC band, the Sketches, were excellent, by the way. The vibe and audience participation was drastically different than when I last visited Leslie in May at the Black Cat, but she and a significantly beefed-up band delivered an engaging, rollicking show. A moyen age chnateuse! Ienjoyed the Bacharach-like horns and the feverish rockabilly sway and the bossa-novish flourishes. The Let it Die standards are more rocking – Feist has moved on from her busker mode - which worked tremendously in developing a following here in the US - and the new material has potential – I’m looking forward to the follow-up to her debut. The crowd was just off, enthusiastic but maddeningly polite, and Feist & Company have been touring tirelessly, and charming Leslie seemed to be tempering the waters most of the time while delivering a powerhouse emotional and skilled performance to a namby-pamby audience - this gig did not urn into a sing-a-long.  All in all, it was a fantastic gig! As her official DC stalker/groupie, we exchanged a pleasant round of greetings after the show.

I also finally saw The Constant Gardener.  I must say I preferred director Fernando Meirelles’ City of God – that was a real triumph in storytelling.  Gardener just seemed a little predictable, even though there were clear attempts to be non-linear.  I've been reading so much about Africa lately I guess there weren't any surprises. Worth seeing though.

Comments

[chiqui]

Read your last 3 posts. Nice morning reading. "Junebug" sounds like a film I'd enjoy. I think we have the dvd of "The Constant Gardener". AL & I loved "City of God" but your take on it is probably right. Cine Europa, Cine Manila & the Spanish film festival are on (not bad for Manila, no?). We caught "Manderlay" which we thought was a really good film. Powerful. Von Triers is so creative and is a great storyteller. Wonder what you make of him. That was a moving post on New orleans too. Those haunting lyrics...

Fil & Alex were in town. It was great seeing them - they stayed at my flat half the time. Fil was askin about you. I showed them your blog. Of course the two never heard of the word (blog) so had to explain that. They're both doing well and partied so hard (ala the Hilton sisters, Fil claimed) while they were in Manila but they're back to their real lives in NY now. Write Fil: [email protected]

[Lee]

Oh I *do* like that Feist photo.

[tiffany jewellery]

Key Bridge to visit with my grandmother in Arlington.