Boy was it a boring Sunday yesterday! I mean, gosh... all I did was go trapezing and eat burgers at the No. 1 burger joint in the DC region. I'm kidding of course. It was hardly a boring day at all. In fact, to quote May Kanti, it was probably one of the best weekends ever.
My Sunday start was fairly typical with cats, a cup of coffee and lounging. But I got moving quickly and met up with Sup, May and Michele Maxson for a day of trapeze. Yes, we signed up for a class with Trapeze School New York, a high-wire act school that has outposts in DC, LA and Boston. The first class taught us the knee hang, flip dismount and a standard catch. The photo above is Sup being successfully caught near the end of the class.
I can't tell you how much fun this was. I was definitely nervous the first time up because you're suddenly throwing your body into a situation it's not really used to. Swinging from a trapeze looks fairly easy, but it's a little different when you find yourself 50 ft. above the ground ready to go. But it was probably one of the most addictive activities I've done since getting into dancing. And because of that, Sup and I have already signed up for two more classes.
There is video on Facebook and hopefully I'll have something to post real soon.
And like all great activities, trapezing makes you hungry. So Sup, May, myself and my roommate Jon all jumped into the car and set off for Ray's Hell Burger. I had heard these burgers were no joke and the place was winning all sorts of awards. Our own president even made his way there one afternoon, so it was only natural for me to want to try it. Below is what I ordered... a standard hamburger with Vermont white cheddar cheese and a side of mac & cheese.
Below is what was left...
A very happy and full Sup...
Apparently a delicious Ray's Hell Burger makes you act silly and make faces, courtesy of May and Sup...
So yeah, a typical Sunday turned into a high-flying trapeze act, burger consuming afternoon. Or as I like to call it "one of the best weekends ever!"
A few weeks ago a group of us from DC traveled up to NYC for the Frankie 95 memorial celebration. This was a 5 day Lindy Hop festival celebrating Frankie Manning, the man we all look up to as one of the original Savoy Ballroom dancers and a true ambassador of Lindy Hop. The event was inspiring, exciting, moving and at times very hard to enduring knowing we had lost such a great person.
But like all true lindy hoppers, we took the celebration as a chance to do what it is we do best... have fun! If there was one thing I know Frankie Manning would have wanted of the weekend, it was that everyone was dancing, smiling and having the time of their lives. With that said, the weekend was a massive success.
One thing that I knew would bring a smile to my face was the chance to explore Manhattan with my camera. I knew time would be limited, so I had to pick and choose when I could seriously enjoy the urban fabric of this great city. I was given a golden opportunity to get my start shooting nightlife photos at Cielo, one of the powerhouse clubs of New York on Thursday night, May 21st. I figured this would be a great way to kick off the weekend because Thursday night events at dance weekends tend to be the slower of the evenings activities. So Manuel Ferdinandus and I hopped a cab for the meatpacking district and found ourselves shooting photos in what is regarded as one of the top house music clubs in the U.S.
Shooting photos in Cielo was a bit challenging because it's not a very large club. And the DJ booth is actually quite small. The best way to describe this venue is it's a glorified recording studio. Seriously, it's one room about the size of a moderately sized clothing store with one of the top sound systems ever constructed. The walls and ceilings are covered with a soft material and padding, giving the room the acoustics you'd expect in a recording studio. One giant crystal ball hangs in the center of the sunken dance floor which is flanked with VIP tables facing out around the room.
The club has a small patio for those wishing to get some fresh air or smoke, but that's basically it. I think the thing I really enjoyed about this venue was that despite the high-level design and attractive people coming and going, it's clear Cielo is all about the music. After shooting for several hours and shaking hands with house music ambassador Frankie Knuckles, Manny and I decided to wander the neighborhood and see what we could find. It was clear the Meatpacking District was a see and be seen type of district. Most of the clubs had long lines of trend-setting style mavens hoping to squeeze their way past NFL sized bouncers upholding an iron-fist like command of guestlists and tables.
At one point, with camera's in hand, Manny and I were mistaken for paparazzi. As you'll see in my "Meatpacking District" gallery, we found several beautiful cars parked in front of one of the more popular clubs. It wasn't the fact that a Lamborghini was parked in front of a club that caught our attention. It was the orange construction cones that were placed on top of said fancy car that had me grabbing my camera. It was at that point a large group of nocturnal participants began mingling close by. One of them coyly asked, "are you guys paparazzi? who's inside???"
Manny and I simply said... we can't tell you, it would compromise our jobs.
Long story short, this trip to New York City was dedicated to shooting photos in this ultra-hip district that was once known more for butchers rather than bling. But after spending Thursday evening and part of Saturday in the neighborhood, I think I captured some of the spirit as best I could on limited time. Enjoy...
I came across the funniest darn video tonight on DCist and just wanted to share it. In fairness to our friends across the bridge in Virginia, Arlington really isn't that bad. I've been spending quite a bit of time over there with Sup in neighborhoods such as Court House, Clarendon and Ballston. Aside from the hills you have to walk up and down, it's actually a pretty neat part of our metro area. Enjoy...
I found myself reflecting the other day on a ton of things that have changed in my life over the past two-plus years I've lived here in DC. I moved across country, got separated, lived with rednecks, started dancing, moved into the city, got divorced, traveled a ton, moved again, and made more friends than I could have ever asked for. In a nutshell, the past two-plus years has been some of the best and worst in my life.
When I moved to DC, there was so much uncertainty in my life. My marriage was on the rocks and I didn't really know where it would go. I had just started dancing but still sucked and really didn't care to social dance while feeling like a swing dance reject. Even my job was on contract and wasn't going to last more than three months. The only thing consistent in my life was my photography and my friends...of which two of my closest (Dan and Matt) lived right here. I rented a room in a small townhouse in Annandale because it was close to my contract work and because I still had an apartment in Oakland. My first roommates were awesome and a joy to live with, but they moved out 3 months later and I was left with an empty townhouse and two other redneck roommates who had their friends get drunk and pass out on the empty living room floor. Life kinda sucked at that point and I missed the days of tearing up the town in Tampa with my crew at some of the hottest clubs in one of my favorite cities. That was when I had to make some hard choices and make a change...
Fast forward one year from that. I had moved into a one-bedroom apartment off Connecticut Ave. I had all brand-new furniture, a new LCD TV, new Macbook Pro, and a new car. I had fully immersed myself into Lindy Hop, started traveling to dance events in other cities and had even thrown myself into a competition. I was back with my soon-to-be-ex-wife, had really gotten into exploring and living in DC and even found some friends who enjoyed house and trance music as much as I did. Life was good.
Fast forward to today... The marriage didn't last. And I'm not sad about that. We both grew apart and had different priorities in life. We remained friends after the divorce and even still dance together on occasion. I certainly don't wish a divorce on anyone, but it was probably the best thing to happen to me since that move across country. I now live in a new apartment in downtown. I teach dance, travel extensively and compete on a regular basis. I shoot photos for some of the best clubs in the world and have a resume that includes photo shoots of 5 of the top 10 DJs in the world. I've shot photos in LA, Boston, Chicago, New York, Austin, SF and many other cities. I work for the AARP, the largest lobbying organization and one of the most powerful in Washington, DC. And later this summer I'm moving into a brand-new apartment right next to the ballpark. Dan and Matt still live in the city and even more of my friends are moving to town this summer.
It's crazy to think that in that short period of time I've changed so much. But it happens. When people come to a crossroad in their life, they can keep going down that one road or they can make a sharp turn. I made that sharp turn several months after I arrived in DC and I couldn't be happier with the journey.
The photo above of Lily and I was taken recently in NYC in the meatpacking district. We were trying different things to create an image to promote our teaching and weekly dance, Tempo at Muse Lounge.
So my coworkers and I decided to take in some sunshine yesterday and walk down the street for coffee. Michael turns to Tina and I and gasps about a great pool party he attended on Sunday at the Skyline Hotel. I'm thinking to myself, the Skyline Hotel is pretty dumpy, how could they host a "great" pool party. Crap, I didn't even know they had a pool.
He explains that the hotel is under new ownership and is hosting a pool party every Sunday with Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn. He tells us the crowd is pretty chic and they even have a DJ.
Now you have to understand why I was so suspicious of this. The Capitol Skyline Hotel used to be a Best Western. It's located on the corner of South Capitol and I Streets SW. It was one of those forgotten hotels in a corner of DC that rarely sees any tourist activity. In other words, it was the hotel that comes up at the bottom of a Hotels.com search result because it was super cheap and lacked one star, let alone 4 stars like some of our other DC accommodations.
But then again, that was before the city invested millions of dollars in a new baseball stadium and a posh condo neighborhood. Within the 2-plus years I've lived in the District, this area went from despised haven of drugs and liquor stores to one of the hottest neighborhoods on the DC map. And so I guess this hotbed of activity attracted new owners to the Capitol Skyline Hotel who decided to bring in master architect Morris Lapidus to splash a little Miami flare on the building. After a complete renovation, you now have a high-design boutique hotel right in the heart of a hot new neighborhood full of activity. And with the new design came the renovated pool.
Now the owners could have just sat by with their new look and been happy. But they went a step beyond and decided to host parties. They've seen the success other venues have had with such an idea, such as The Raleigh in Miami, The Standard in LA and the Phoenix Hotel in SF. And so now DC has a new Saturday and Sunday afternoon home to the young and chic looking for some sun.
Brightest Young Things is now hosting a Saturday afternoon party with DJs and live music. Every Sunday, Spike Mendelsohn grills burgers with a DJ spinning lounge and house. Hopefully we'll see some evening events in the near future as well. Regardless, what was once a no-name eye-sore just south of the Capitol is now a hip and happening venue contributing to a thriving social scene in our nations capital.
Welcome to urban marinade...a blog that lets you stew in the cultural crock pot of Washington, DC. I'm here to rant and rave about anything and everything in my little urban world. Generally speaking, that includes nightlife, photography, dancing and DC urban development. So there!
