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Meet Courthouse Resident and Miss Virginia USA Shannon McAnally

By ARLnow.com

Miss Virginia USA Shannon McAnally (photo courtesy Miss Universe Organization)An Arlington resident is in the running to become the next Miss USA.

Shannon McAnally, who lives in Courthouse, is the reigning Miss Virginia USA and will compete for the national title live on NBC on Sunday, June 16.

Though she will be representing Virginia, McAnnally is actually a native Texan. She moved to Arlington just over a year ago to help her family expand its construction business to Virginia.

The company, MCC and Associates, specializes in restaurant construction and renovation. McAnally is the company’s marketing director and a licensed contractor — the latter being an exceedingly rare accreditation for a young beauty pageant contestant.

“It is very unique… I don’t know many women my age who are involved in the commercial construction industry,” she said. McAnally noted, however, that the Miss USA pageant has featured women who are attorneys and doctors.

“That’s one of the misconceptions you find in beauty pageants, is that you think it’s just about being a pretty face, when it has more to due with the substance of a person,” she said. She said her involvement in pageants started as a fun hobby, but grew into a serious goal and drive to become Miss USA.

McAnally said she picked Arlington and the Courthouse neighborhood as her home above every other locality in Virginia because of the county’s urban amenities, which for made an easier transition from her hometown of Dallas.

“Everything is so convenient,” she said. “You can walk to restaurants and stores, it’s just a perfect area to live in.”

Miss Virginia USA Shannon McAnally (photo courtesy Miss Universe Organization)If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the potential future Miss USA, her interests provide a clue about the types of places she frequents.

McAnally says she’s an appreciator of museums, dining out, shopping, and music. Her favorite shopping destinations are Georgetown and Tysons Corner, but she can often be spotted at the Courthouse farmers market on Saturday mornings, or two favorite Clarendon food destinations: Whole Foods and Circa restaurant.

Just don’t expect to see her out much between now and June 16. McAnally says she’s been busy training for the pageant, working with walking coaches, interview coaches and other advisers. A vegetarian, McAnally has also been eating extra healthy and “exercising like crazy,” so she can be in top shape for the swimsuit competition.

If you do see McAnally out and about, it may be as she tours the Commonwealth in her role as Miss Virginia USA. She has been able to crisscross the state in style, thanks to the silver 2013 Mercedes Benz C250 that she received as part of her statewide pageant win this past November.

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Profile: Arlington-Born Singer/Songwriter Margot MacDonald

By ARLnow.com

For now, Margot MacDonald is a 19-year-old with an incredible voice and undeniable songwriting talent who lives with her parents in Lyon Park. Given her steady ascent in the world of music, however, it’s hard to see how that last part is going to last long.

MacDonald, who is playing IOTA Club (2832 Wilson Blvd) tonight with two fellow Strathmore Artists in Residence, seems destined for bigger things. A five-time Washington Area Music Award winner, MacDonald received “a little bit” of national recognition in the past year, when her self-funded album, Walls, made a list of possible GRAMMY nominees for Best Album of the Year.

Walls was actually the teen’s third album. Her first came out when she was 12, about three years after she started classic opera training. During her young career, MacDonald has veered from very folk-oriented to “completely hard rock” to what she now describes as “pop acoustic rock with a bit of a world influence.”

She has worked with two noted local record producers, including fellow Lyon Park resident Marco Delmar. But until now the former Long Branch Elementary and Kenmore Middle School student has shrugged off interest from labels.

“I haven’t felt particularly ready up until this point… I’ve just been trying to figure out who I want to be as an artist,” she said. But MacDonald says she now feels more comfortable than ever with her own musical style, and might be ready to make the leap to the big leagues of the music industry.

Earlier this month MacDonald, who has performed at the 9:30 Club and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage locally, played her first show in New York City. She says she’s anxious to go back.

“I’m really happy with what I’m doing… slowly but surely getting better and better gigs and gaining more fans,” she said. “I’m not really sure what the future holds, but I hope it’s good.”

Check out Margot’s YouTube channel to watch her past performances.

Photo courtesy of Margot MacDonald.

Arlington Lawyer Moonlights as Award-Winning Filmmaker

By ARLnow.com

If you were to create a list of professions least likely to count an award-winning creator of abstract and experimental films among their ranks, lawyers would probably rank just below accountants.

But Clarendon resident H. Paul Moon is not your average government lawyer. He’s a composer, playwright and blogger who only recently added filmmaking to his list of side-projects. Earlier this month, he became an “award-winning” filmmaker at Arlington’s Rosebud Film and Video Festival.

Moon won the festival’s “Best of Show” award for El Toro, a short experimental film that seeks to make a visual connection between Spanish bullfighting and the passion of the Christ.

Armed with “modest” video equipment during a trip to Madrid, Moon attended a bullfight in the Plaza de Toros, a violent experience he says he does not want to repeat. Several months after returning home, Moon found inspiration and decided to turn his travel video into a film.

“I juxtaposed those bloody bullfighting scenes with carefully composed shots inside Madrid’s central cathedral, and heavily processed my edit with light manipulation and other visual effects to create a sort of dream-like meditation set to music,” he said. Then, one year after his trip, the Rosebud judges bestowed “an unexpected an encouraging honor” — the festival’s top prize.

“This was the first festival screening that I ever received since starting to make films 1-1/2 years ago,” Moon said.

It will almost certainly not be his last. Moon has continued cranking out experimental/environmental/landscape films inspired by his extensive international travels. In addition to the abstract and non-narrative, he has also been working on documentaries that profile performing artists.

Currently, Moon says he’s hard at work on a “biographical portrait of the American composer Samuel Barber.” The choice of documentary subject reflects the fact that Moon — a prolific creator of art — is also a voracious consumer of art.

“When something fascinates me, now I can’t stop myself from making a project out of it,” he said.

El Toro currently is not available online, but you can watch some of Moon’s other films here.

Photos from El Toro courtesy of H. Paul Moon

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Korean Burger Joint Looks To Arlington — Kraze Burger is coming to the D.C. area, and the Korean company has its sights set on Arlington. So far, though, no leases have been signed in the county. More from the Washington Business Journal.

BBC Visits Ray’s Hell Burger — President Obama’s burger summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues to pay publicity dividends for Ray’s Hell Burger. BBC News recently came calling and got a tour of the über-busy burger joint from owner Michael Landrum.

Meet Ballston’s Twenty-Something Civic Leaders — TBD profiles James Schroll, 25, and Conor Marshall, 24 — roommates, recent University of Mary Washington grads, and the newly-elected president and vice president of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association.

Home Sales Volume Falls, Sale Prices Up — The Sun Gazette has the latest real estate stats for July.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Bagpiping on a Beautiful Day

By ARLnow.com

Around 12:30 this afternoon, outside the Courthouse Metro, it was a springtime scene to delight the senses.

The warmth of the sun reflecting off the sidewalk. The smell of Cubano sandwiches wafting over from the Rebel Heroes truck. The sight of smiling, sunglasses-clad people, taking in the perfect weather after an extra-dreary start to the week.

Then, there was faint wail of Amazing Grace playing on the bagpipes.

It was coming from the small park across the street from the Jerry’s Subs shop. Eric Rice-Johnston, an employee in the Arlington County community planning office, was practicing.

Rice-Johnston has been a piper since the early 70s, when he was working as student firefighter at the University of Alaska.

He began practicing during his lunch hour last year, and has just started up again now that the weather is warmer.

Rice-Johnston’s practice session today — he’s getting ready to participate in some bagpiping competitions — included Amazing Grace and the other classic bagpipe tunes, which are usually known for being played at parades and funerals. But there were also a few unfamiliar and upbeat melodies in his repertoire.

Rice-Johnston was not fazed by the confused glances from passersby. He did, however, acknowledge the one individual who applauded.

Profile: Whole Foods Store Chef Michael Kiss

By Stacey Viera

The following is excerpted from the blog Every Food Fits.

A traditionally-trained chef, Michael Kiss dared to leave his traditional kitchen gig and, through his “friend named serendipity,” found his calling.

Five years ago he was living in Georgia, working as a chef and teaching cooking classes at a cookware shop, a job that he loved. Then, when his wife’s career moved them to Washington, D.C., Kiss took it as an opportunity to change his career.

Having worked with domestic artisan cheeses as they were gaining popularity at the turn of this century, he took his positive attitude to the cheese counter at the Silver Spring, Md., Whole Foods Market. “I went from executive chef in a restaurant to a $7-an-hour job in the cheese department.”

Kiss moved up the ranks within Whole Foods, moved to the Arlington store, and eventually, the “Store Chef” position was created for him. “When you have a passion,” Kiss said, “you find a way to do it.”

Nearly every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 2700 Wilson Blvd., Kiss teaches basic cooking classes on the store’s second floor. Classes like “29 ½ Minute Meals,” “Cook Like a Chef” and others to help new cooks get comfortable with meal preparation while providing tips for the seasoned home cook.

“I used to write more complicated classes, but those were more intimidating,” Kiss said. “I teach the simple ABCs of cooking for people who need inspiration.”

Read the part one or part two of the interview in its entirety.

Photo courtesy Stacey Viera