Events

Rosslyn Jazz Fest Returns with All-Star Lineup

By ARLnow.com

The annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival is one month away, and this year’s lineup includes a trio of acclaimed performers.

The festival headliner for 2011 is Dee Dee Bridgewater, who won a Tony Award for her acting performance in ‘The Wiz’ and who has also snagged two Grammy Awards for ‘Best Jazz Vocal Performance’ and ‘Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal.’ In addition to her musical and acting accomplishments, Bridgewater hosts the weekly NPR jazz program ‘JazzSet.’

Also on the bill is New Orleans native Henry Butler, an eight-time W.C. Handy ‘Best Blues Instrumentalist – Piano’ award nominee. Blind since birth, Butler not only is a musical chameleon — mixing jazz, Caribbean, classical, pop, blues and R&B influences — but he’s also an accomplished photographer whose work has been displayed at exhibitions.

Rounding out the lineup is rising jazz star Grace Kelly. A saxophonist, singer, composer and arranger, Kelly has already amassed an impressive array of awards and accolades at the age of 19.

The Rosslyn Jazz Festival will take place from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10, in Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway). D.C.’s own Al Williams Quartet and guest vocalist Juanita Williams will kick off the event, which is free and open to the public.

Photo via Rosslyn BID

Discounted Registration for 9-11 5K Ends Today

By ARLnow.com

Registration for the Arlington Police, Fire & Sheriff 9-11 Memorial 5K Run will get more expensive after today.

The annual race will be held on Sept. 10 this year. Registration is $25 today, $30 from Aug. 5 to Sept. 9 and $35 on race day. Teams (including firefighter, law enforcement and military teams) need to be registered by Sept. 1.

The race will kick off at 6:00 p.m. from the DoubleTree Hotel in Pentagon City (300 Army Navy Drive). Runners will follow a course that will take them past parts of the Pentagon. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trader Center and the Pentagon.

Proceeds from the race will benefit 9-11 related charities, including the Fisher House Foundation, the Wounded Warrior Project, Operation Purple, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the Pentagon Memorial Fund.

Organizers are looking for volunteers to work on race day. Volunteers will be asked to pass out food and water and assist with other race duties. Anyone interested in volunteering can find more information here.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Halloween in August?

By ARLnow.com

The leaves are still green and the air is still humid, but Count Gore De Vol will be donning his white makeup to present a special sneak preview for the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival this weekend.

De Vol (television legend Dick Dyszel) will be hosting “Spooky Shorts,” a three-hour screening of “thirteen of the wildest short films from around the world,” at Artisphere on Saturday.

The screening starts at 8:00 p.m. in the Artisphere’s Dome Theater. Tickets are $10.

The shorts will serve as an “exclusive preview” for the 6th Annual Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival, which will be held from Oct. 13-16 this year. Additional summer spooky movie screenings are planned for Aug. 20 and Sept. 3.

Arlington County Fair Program Released

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Fair is just a week away, and now we know a bit more about the kind of food and entertainment that’s on tap.

The fair’s official program is now online, complete with lists of exhibitors, food vendors and fair hours. Also included are maps and an entertainment schedule.

Among the food vendors are A&B Soft Serve, Cherokee Cuisine (“Krispy Kreme burgers,” “turkey kielbasa tortilla wraps,” etc.), Capital Empanadas, Family Grill (kebabs, pad thai, etc.), Four Seasons Grill (gyros, turkey legs, etc.), I Love Thai, International Grill Company (cheesesteaks, falafel, etc.), MacBrand Foods (sausage, “blooming onions,” etc.), Nittaya Grill (chicken teriyaki, funnel cakes, etc.), Orient-Bowl, and Rivera’s (carne asada, pupusas, etc.).

Among the more than 125 exhibitors are the Arlington County Democratic Committee, the Arlington County Republican Committee, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Artisphere, Dominion Electric Power, Friends of the David M. Brown Planetarium, Potomac Harmony/Showtime Chorus, and dozens of merchants.

Among the scheduled outdoor events are the Civil War HistoryMobile, Star Family Circus, racing piglets, pony rides, Harlem Wizards basketball demonstration (Fri.-Sat.), outdoor movies (Fri.-Sat.), and animal rescue group exhibitions (Fri.-Sun.).

The fair takes place at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center (3501 S. 2nd Street). See the Arlington County Fair web site for more information.

‘Pike Hike’ Event Returns

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is planning a community walk around Columbia Pike.

The walk, “Pike Hike II,” is the second of a series designed to promote the sights, shops and history of the Columbia Pike corridor. It will focus on the western portion of the Pike’s evolving “town center.”

The walk will depart from the Arlington Career Center/Columbia Pike Library building (816 S. Walter Reed Drive) at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 14. Walkers, led by County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, are expected to complete the two-mile walk by 11:00 a.m. Attractions along the planned route include the 1940s-era Westmont Shopping Center, a church that predates the Civil War and one of the few remaining Lustron pre-fabricated, post-World War II homes.

Pike Hike is free and registration is not required. The event is sponsored by WalkArlington, the Arlington County Fair and the Columbia Pike Revitalization organization.

Dark Star Park Shadows Align For Rosslyn Anniversary

By ARLnow.com

It happens once a year, to commemorate the day (August 1) in 1860 that William Henry Ross acquired the land that later became Rosslyn.

Today, at 9:32 a.m., the shadows cast by the stone spheres and iron poles in Dark Star Park (1655 N. Ft. Myer Drive) will line up with the permanently-installed artistic images of shadows on the ground.

While a grand all-day festival — like the one held in 2009 to mark the park’s 25th anniversary — is not planned this year, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District expects fans of the urban park to stop by this morning to witness the annual event.

Photo via Rosslyn BID

Rosslyn Events Canceled Due to Heat

By ARLnow.com

With temperatures expected to reach into the mid-to-upper 90s over the next two days, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District has decided to nix three of its signature outdoor events.

Today’s Rosslyn lunchtime concert, slated to feature New Orleans-inspired rock quartet The Grandsons, has been canceled “due to excessive heat.” Thursday’s lunchtime concert has also been canceled, as has the Thursday lunchtime farmers market.

Despite the forecast of triple-digit temperatures on Friday, the BID has so far not pulled the plug on its outdoor film festival, which is scheduled to feature 90s comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The films start at dusk on Fridays.

Cuba’s Sierra Maestra to Perform Tonight in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

Sierra Maestra, a Havana-based, Grammy-nominated band that has been performing since 1976, will be bringing their traditional Cuban sound to Rosslyn’s Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd) tonight.

The group is making its only D.C.-area stop here for Artisphere’s Salsa Tuesdays. Dancing lessons start at 7:30 p.m., followed by the band’s performance and dancing from 8:30 to 11:00 p.m. Tickets are $25, discounted to $22 for students, military servicemembers and senior citizens.

Many of the members of Sierra Maestra have performed with the Buena Vista Social Club, the international “supergroup” created by Sierra Maestra founder Juan de Marcos Gonzales.

Tonight’s performance will take place in Artisphere’s 4,000 square foot ballroom.

(more…)

NYC’s Danny Ross Playing Iota Club on Sunday

By ARLnow.com

New York-based congressional staffer by day, singer-songwriter-pianist by night, Danny Ross will be making his Washington-area debut Sunday night at Iota Club in Clarendon.

Ross, a staffer in the Manhattan District Office of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), has played South by Southwest, the CMJ Music Fest and NYC’s Mercury Lounge, among other major venues, but he has yet to play the city that’s the focal point of his day job.

Ross cites Wilco, the Beatles and Ryan Adams as influence, and his eclectic, often ballad-y music has also garnered some comparisons to Ben Folds. He will perform with his 9-piece band and horns at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday at Iota Club (2832 Wilson Blvd).

Dedication Planned for New Cherrydale Fire Station

By ARLnow.com

Update at 3:40 p.m. — County officials say that the actual cost of the fire station, including land swaps, road work and construction, is about $18 million. About $7.3 million of that was to design, build and furnish the station.

A dedication and open house is planned for the new, $5.3 million Cherrydale Fire Station.

The fire station will be dedicated on Friday, July 29, officials announced yesterday. A family-friendly open house will be held on Saturday, July 30, complete with guided tours of the new facility.

Located at 4100 Old Dominion Drive, the station features four bays for emergency equipment, gender-neutral living facilities for firefighters, a public green space and an anticipated LEED Silver environmental design.

County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman called the station “state of the art” and “quite handsome” at Tuesday’s County Board meeting.

Photo via Fire (Station) in the Hole blog

Free Paper Shredding Event on Saturday

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is now offering free paper shredding to residents on the first Saturday of every month.

Since holiday weekends are excluded, July’s paper shredding event will take place this Saturday. Residents — not businesses — can take their sensitive documents to the county’s Solid Waste Bureau (4300 29th Street S.) to be shredded, for free, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“A County employee will process the materials while you observe,” according to the Arlington County web site. “100% of shredded material is recycled.”

Residents are limited to two boxes or paper bags of documents each month. Stapled and paper-clipped documents are okay, as are checkbooks, but magazines, catalogs, binders, phone books and credit cards are prohibited.

View More Stories