Spring Ahead 1 Hour on Sunday Morning
The snow may still be saying winter, but early Sunday morning the time will say spring when daylight savings time begins and time springs ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Although next week promises a warming trend, this weekend is still supposed to be bone chilling, so we have a long list of indoor activities to fill your time. But for the brave or Irish, there’s always the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Old Town Alexandria on Saturday.
This weekend, Orange Line trains will operate at regular intervals. Red Line trains will run every 16 minutes between Shady Grove and Glenmont and every 8-10 minutes between Friendship Heights and Silver Spring, from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Green and Yellow Line trains every 15 minutes. Blue Line trains will operate normally between Franconia-Springfield and Stadium-Armory, and Silver Line trains will operate normally between Wiehle-Reston East and Stadium-Armory. Both Blue and Silver line trains at Largo Town Center, Morgan Boulevard, Addison Road, Capitol Heights and Benning Road will operate every 20 minutes. Also, at 2 a.m. on Sunday. At that time, clocks will move ahead one hour, it will become 3 a.m. and the Metrorail system will close. The last trains of the evening will move through stations between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. EST.
Iberian Suite: Global Arts Remix
The Kennedy Center’s three-week long Iberian Suite: Global Arts Remix is a festival of theater, dance, music, visual arts, literature, design, cuisine and film highlighting the many cultures that comprise the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking peoples. The Iberian Peninsula is home to Portugal and Spain, which laid claim to much of North and South America, and coastal Africa long before Britain began exploring new worlds. The festival includes dozens of performances by some of the world’s best contemporary music, dance and theater artists, many who are making their U.S. or D.C. debuts. Visual arts are highlighted in exhibitions and installations around the building, and additional events focus on literature, film, cuisine and more.
Through Mar. 24 at various times at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. The full schedule is available here. Tickets range from FREE to $100.
Orchid Month at Hillwood
March is Orchid Month at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Surround yourself with the warmth and fragrance of Hillwood’s greenhouse this winter and see hundreds of orchids blooming in concert. With a greater number and variety of orchids in bloom during March than any other season, a month-long focus on the exotic beauties features workshops, tours and colorful displays. All month long visitors can get behind the scenes of the working greenhouse with Jason Gediek, head of design operations, and learn more about its history, Marjorie Post’s infatuation with orchids and the exotic blooms and fragrances on display at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fridays and 12:30 p.m. Saturdays included with admission. This Friday from 1-3 p.m. and Saturday from 1:30-3:30 p.m., attend the hands-on workshop “To Repot or Not.” Orchids need to be repotted every 1-2 years. Each type of plant requires a different potting material and technique. Your plant will leave this workshop with a “good home” and reward you with years of gorgeous flowers. Cost is $30 or $25 for Hillwood members. Advance registration is required. This Saturday from 10 a.m.-noon, learn how to get your orchid to rebloom in another hands-on workshop. Learn how to care for your orchid in order to get more flowers. Orchids can last for decades and offer countless blooms during their lifetime. Take an orchid or two from your collection and get specific pointers on everything from watering and pruning to the proper light and fertilizer. Cost is $30 or $25 for Hillwood members. Advance registration is required.
Through March at various times at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Click here for a full schedule or to purchase tickets.
Amp opens with Jay Farrar, Toshi Reagon
Amp, Strathmore’s new more casual younger brother in the Pike & Rose development along Rockville Pike, opens this weekend with back-to-back concerts Friday and Saturday by Americana alt-country singer Jay Farrar of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo, and Toshi Reagon of Big Lovely with jazz drummer Allison Miller and local electronic musician Be Steadwell on Sunday. So far, 40 shows that straddle genres from Go Go to racy cabaret, folk, jazz, rock and and more, with concerts by low-fi indie band Lower Dens, an album release by award-winning cabaret singer Mark Nadler, Reggae Beatles tribute band Yellow Dubmarine, Amigos Band, bluegrass icon Alice Gerrard and Talking Heads tribute band Psycho Killers, among others. You can dine on food or sip drinks from Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which owns Bluejacket, Birch & Barley, Churckey, Red Apron and more, before or during the show.
Mar. 6 and 7 at 8 p.m. with Jay Farrar and Mar. 8 at 7:30 p.m. with Toshi Reagon and Allison Miller at Amp, 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. Tickets for Jay Farrar are $30 and $45 and tickets for Toshi Reagon are $35. Tickets are available online or at the box office.
Travel & Adventure Show
The 11th annual Washington, D.C. Travel & Adventure Show comes to the convention center this weekend just in time for snow-weary residents to book an exotic getaway. Speakers on three different stages include travel expert and author Rick Steves on European travel, travel expert and publisher Pauline Frommer on money saving methods of travel and less usual destinations, Travel Channel host Samantha Brown on how world travel has changed, author Patricia Shultz on incorporating romance, food, adventures and culture, and author Josh Gates off-the-map excursions. New this year is the Savvy Traveler Theater, where visitors will get how-to tips on traveling smarter and more hassle-free including “How to Fix Your Trip When It Breaks,” with USA Today travel columnist Christopher Elliott and “Travel Skills, Tips & Tricks: Know Before You Go,” with The Travel Ambassador Angel Castellanos.
Mar. 7 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Mar. 8 from 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Walter E Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW. Admission is $11 in advance for adults online or $16 at the door, two-day tickets are $17 in advance and $25 at the door. Children 16 and under are free.
Studio Ghibli Collection
It’s time for E Street Cinema’s annual series showcasing the Studio Ghibli Collection, the source of such rabidly beloved Japanese animated films like Princess Monoke and Spirited Away. There are two matinees every Saturday and Sunday through mid-April, and many of the selections are being shown in 35mm. It starts this weekend with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, set in a devastated future decimated by atmospheric poisons and swarming with gigantic insects, it is the story of a brave and innocent young princess whose love for all living things and passionate determination to understand the processes of nature lead her into terrible danger, sacrifice and eventual triumph, and My Neighbor Totoro, a tale of two girls who move with their father to a new house in the countryside and discover that the surrounding forests are home to a family of Totoros, gentle but powerful creatures who live in a huge and ancient camphor tree and are seen only by children. While most of the films are appropriate for children, all are in Japanese with English subtitles except Totoro, which is in English.
Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. through Apr. 12 at E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Tickets are $9 for adults and $8.50 for children and seniors online or at the box office.
Nowruz Festival
The Freer and Sackler Galleries celebrate Nowruz, the springtime holiday that marks the start of the Persian year 1394. This pre-Islamic festival, whose name means “new day,” has roots in the ancient, fire-revering Zoroastrian religion and is believed to be 3,000 years old. Today, it is observed in Iran and parts of Turkey, Iraq, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Children can observe many of the traditions like “jumping over the fire,” a purification ritual of jumping over bonfires using faux fires outside made of orange cloth “flames” blown by fans; haft sin (meaning “seven s’s”), a table laid out with seven foods all starting with the letter “s” in Persian including apples for fertility and beauty, hyacinth for fragrance, wine vinegar for immortality and eternity, wild olives for fertility and love, wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish for rebirth, wheat sprout pudding for sweetness and coins for wealth. At the Sackler, you can make your own haft sin paper collage. The New York-based band Mitra Sumara, featuring Iranian-American vocalist Yvette Perez, singing Persian pop songs from the 60s and 70s at the Freer and U.K. storyteller Xanthe Gresham will share traditional Persian tales in the Ripley Center at noon, 2 and 4 p.m. For a complete schedule, click http://www.asia.si.edu/events/nowruz/downloads/schedule-2015.pdf here.
Mar. 7 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive and 12th St. NW, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr. SW. Admission is FREE!
34th annual Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day Parade
It may not be Mar. 17 yet, but break out your green and head to Old Town Alexandria for its 34th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. This year’s theme is “Women of Irish Heritage” and the grand marshall is Laureen O’Neill-James, owner of the O’Neill-James School of Dance and a member of the Irish Cultural Hall of Fame. Festivities also include a classic car show on Pitt Street between King and Cameron Streets beginning at 10 a.m. There will be a dog show beginning at 11:15 a.m. in Market Square, 301 King St., with prizes for best tail wag, smallest dog, biggest dog, best Irish costume, best adopted dog and best owner/dog look-a like.
Mar. 7 starting at 12:30 p.m. along King Street between Alfred and Lee Streets, Alexandria. Admission is FREE!
Brewer’s Ball
Sample a variety of hand-crafted beers from more than 35 of the region’s craft breweries at the http://dcbrewersball.org/ Brewer’s Ball Local favorites like Bluejacket, Mad Fox Brewery, Port City, Heavy Seas and Flying Dog will rub elbows with nationally renowned brands like Dogfish Head, Goose Island, Ommegang, Lagunitas, and Allagash. Representatives from many of the breweries will be on-hand to chat about the beers they’re serving, which gives both beer aficionados and beginners plenty of chances to ask questions and learn more about the beer and breweries. Guests will also enjoy food from more than 25 local restaurants. The evening features live entertainment and one of the DMV’s most memorable silent auctions all to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Mar. 7 from 7 p.m.-midnight at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $135. SOLD OUT!
From Liberty Tea to Freedom Fries
The Culinary Historians of Washington present the talk, From Liberty Tea to Freedom Fries with Towson University Nancy J. Siegel. Metaphors linking food to politics have a long American history. In 1774, an author likened the lack of control over the American colonies to a crumbling cake The domestic language of food was easily understood, and this culinary vocabulary occurs most emphatically in the gendered space of the kitchen, where hostesses prepared Election Cake, Independence Cake and Democratic Tea cakes in praise of the new and fragile nation. Siegel’s talk explores how and why a culinary vocabulary was used as a language of political expression in the years of the Early Republic.
Mar. 8 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at the Bethesda/Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Meeting Room A, Bethsesda. Admission is FREE!
Women in Jazz
Professors, female musicians and activists from Sweden and the DMV will generate new thoughts and ideas about creating a new music scene across the globe at the Women in Jazz panel on women’s equality in music. Individual presentation and a panel discussion address the challenges of working for gender equality in music in general and jazz in particular. The event will be followed by a jazz concert with Swedish and American performers as part of the Washington Women in Jazz Festival. The concert features RAW Sound Sweden and Ephemera.
Mar. 8 with the panel from 4-5:40 p.m. followed by the jazz concert from 5:30-9 p.m. at the House of Sweden, 2900 K St. NW. in Georgetown. Admission is FREE! Cash bar is available. RSVP http://www.eventbrite.com/e/music-women-in-jazz-events-a-panel-on-gender-in-music-jazz-concert-sold-out-tickets-15878913257 here.
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.