music

Karaoke Cab Featured on the Today Show

By ARLnow.com

This summer Joel Orbina Laguidao, the Red Top Cab driver who keeps a portable karaoke machine in his taxi, gained regional notoriety thanks to local media coverage.

Now, the ‘Karaoke Cab’ has gone national, thanks to a feature story on this morning’s Today Show.

As part of the five-minute segment, Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie took a musical ride around Arlington in the Karaoke Cab with Joel. As Arlington landmarks like Whitlow’s passed by in the background, Guthrie was joined in the cab by a number of random taxi passengers and by one not-so-random Arlington resident: NBC News White House Correspondent Chuck Todd.

Guthrie called the cab “a new innovative way of getting around the D.C. area” that “gives a whole new meaning to ‘traffic jam.'”

The segment was filmed on Friday, Sept. 16, with the cooperation of Clarendon-based Red Top Cab.

WaPo Covers Arlington’s ‘Karaoke Cab’

By ARLnow.com

Have you ever hopped in a Red Top Cab at night and realized that it wasn’t just a taxi, it was a karaoke parlor on wheels?

If so, you’ve probably met Joel Orbina Laguidao, the subject of an amusing Washington Post Style section feature this week.

A former truck driver, Laguidao started driving a cab shortly after moving to Virginia from the Philippines. After becoming bored with just driving all the time, he installed a karaoke machine.

The Post recently rode shotgun as Laguidao hauled bar-goers from Clarendon back to their apartments in Ballston, Pentagon City and elsewhere. Intrepid reporter Dan Zak bore witness to the looks of disbelief on the faces of first-time riders, and to the loud, terrible drunken singing that serenades Laguidao during his workday (that is, when Laguidao is not on the mic himself).

Patriotic Performance Kicks Off Holiday Weekend

By ARLnow.com

The Symphony Orchestra of Arlington kicks off the holiday weekend with a patriotic performance.

The symphony, conducted by Jeff Dokken, will play at a free concert called “Honoring America” which will feature patriotic-themed classical music.  It will take place tonight at 7:30 in the theater at Kenmore Middle School (200 S. Carlin Springs Road).

The Symphony Orchestra of Arlington is a professional caliber volunteer orchestra founded in January.  Its goal is to foster education, outreach and entertainment while providing high quality classical music to residents in and around Arlington.

The concert will also feature the Open5ths, a Washington, D.C. based men’s chorus.

Keira Moran Needs Your Vote

By ARLnow.com

Rep. Jim Moran isn’t the only member of the Moran family who’s courting your vote. Keira Moran, the congressman’s granddaughter, needs your help to win an national songwriting contest.

Keira’s song “When I’m With You” is one of two finalists in an online competition on SmashTune.com. The 16-year-old T.C. Williams (Alexandria) High School student is neck-and-neck against her fellow finalist, 22-year-old Californian Lucia Sosa. Voting closes today at 2:00 p.m.

Rep. Moran has been campaigning for Keira and posting words of encouragement on the contest page.

“You’re an amazing talent Keira,” he wrote, via Facebook. “I’m so proud of you – not just because of your songwriting and other artistic gifts, but even more so because of what a truly good and kind person you are. I’m one lucky Grandpa!”

In addition to playing the piano, Keira is also the first chair cello in the T.C. Williams orchestra. See her perform other self-written songs here.

We’re turning off the comments to prevent the inevitable creep of politics into a basically non-political story.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Groundbreaking for Lee Highway Condos — The Christopher Companies has broken ground on Dominion Heights, a 66-unit condo building at 3565 Lee Highway. Construction is expected to last 14-18 months. [Marketwire]

Suggestions for Field Near Ballston Mall — One writer has a suggestion for a barren quarter-acre field next to the Ballston Common Mall parking garage at the corner of Glebe Road and N. Randolph Street. The field should be turned into a public plaza, complete with specimen trees and a lunch kiosk, GGW’s Joey Katzen writes. [Greater Greater Washington]

It’s Accordion Awareness Month — One Arlington resident and hardcore accordion enthusiast describes how she’s celebrating National Accordion Awareness Month. [Patch]

Tuckahoe Elementary Staff Lip Dubs ‘Party in the USA’

By ARLnow.com

The relatively recent workplace tradition of the lip dub has spread to Tuckahoe Elementary.

Tuckahoe staffers produced and starred in a music video set to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” as an “end of the year gift” to students.

The video is intended to be “something to make [students] smile and uplift them before they go off for the summer,” in the words of one teacher.

Video: The History of Rock in Northern Va.

By ARLnow.com

The video is long (nearly an hour) and the audio is low, but the county’s television channel has posted a video of an fascinating panel discussion on this history of rock and roll in Northern Virginia.

Featured in the video are five men who promoted local concerts in the ’60s and 70s: Derwood Settles, Teddy Bodnar, Michael Oberman, Mike Schreibman, and Bud Becker. The discussion, organized by cultural historian Jeff Krulik, was held in the Artisphere in November.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Civil War ‘History Mobile’ Coming to Arlington — A tractor trailer turned mobile history museum will be visiting Arlington several times this summer, as part of commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The History Mobile’s exhibits “look at the war through the eyes of civilians, slaves and soldiers.” [Sun Gazette]

ART Contractor Wins Safety Award — The contractor that operates Arlington Transit (ART) buses won a top safety award on Sunday. The company, Forsythe Transportation, helped reduce safety complaints on ART by 58 percent in one year, according to a county press release. [Arlington County]

Pentagon City Casting Call for Kid Singers — Organizers of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic — held later this summer in D.C. — are looking for kids between the ages of 6 and 12 to sing the National Anthem prior to featured tennis matches. A casting call will be held at the Pentagon City mall from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. Multiple winners will be selected. [Legg Mason Tennis Classic]

Flickr pool photo by Mark C. White

Renaissance Hotel Holds Grand Opening in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

The Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel (2800 S. Potomac Avenue) in Crystal City held a swank grand opening celebration last night.

The NYC-based musical duo of electric violinist Caitlin Moe and DJ Mia Moretti performed for a stylishly-attired crowd. Waiters and waitresses dressed as fashionable flight attendants served signature cocktails and international hors d’oeuvres, in keeping with the party’s “jet set” theme.

The 300-room Renaissance hotel and the attached, 325-room Residence Inn opened to the public in March. More photos, after the jump.

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New Remy Video Pokes Fun at the TSA

By ARLnow.com

‘Arlington Rap’ guy Remy Munasifi has teamed up with the libertarians at Reason Magazine to produce a new parody video about the much-maligned Transportation Security Administration.

The video, “Do the TSA Pokey Pokey,” makes fun of the TSA’s intrusive airport body scans and pat-downs. It also satirizes recent controversies involving pat-downs of young children.

“We touch you kid like that / We grope your kid like this / We touch them up and down because they might be terrorists,” Remy sings, dressed as a mustachioed TSA agent. “We do the pokey pokey because we somehow are allowed, that’s what it’s all about.”

Accidental Osama Tweeter Likes the Arlington Rap Guy

By ARLnow.com

The Pakistani computer programmer who accidentally live-Tweeted the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound is apparently a fan of ‘Arlington Rap’ guy Remy Munasifi.

Sohaib Athar achieved worldwide fame for providing real-time Twitter updates during the raid — without knowing that it was a raid or that it was Osama bin Laden’s secret hide-out that was being raided. Munasifi, meanwhile, achieved region-wide fame for his music video ode to life in Arlington.

Despite the fact that Athar lives in Abbottabad, Pakistan and Munasifi lives in Clarendon, Remy’s comedy apparently crosses physical and cultural borders — his parody video “Hey There Khalilah” is one of Athar’s “favorites” on YouTube.

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