The Show Must Go On: Ford's Theatre Handles Fiasco Due to Federal Govt Shutdown

Humorist and author Sarah Vowell said in her book "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" (if our memory is right on that) that: "No one goes to the Lincoln Theatre to see the play." Her comments are in reference to the fact that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the theatre.

But, as it turns out, many patron attend Ford's Theatre to see the play. Currently, the stage company, which is private, is performing "The Laramie Project," a 2000 play about the murder of a gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard which occurred in 1998.

At first, Ford's Theatre staff members thought the play would go on at the Ford's Theatre. However, they were informed that the play would have to be performed elsewhere as the Ford's Theatre not only could not be open for the daily tours, but at night, for the stage play production as well.

As a result, Ford's Theatre is now performing a play at somewhere else besides the Ford's Theatre.

The alternate venue for the play is the First Congregational United Church of Christ, located near Ford's Theatre.

Tonight's performance of the production is free to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Starting tomorrow night, tickets for the play will be $25, but previous ticket-holders for the Ford's production can simply swap in tickets to see the show.

The play was also performed by the University of Mississippi where homophobic hecklers attempted to disrupt the production of "The Laramie Project." Read about it here at our sister blog (will be available after 3:00 p.m., eastern time): http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

SIDEBAR: It was certainly a bad week in Washington, DC, for most folks, but for the George Washington University's women's volleyball leaving town was beneficial. The Colonials went up to Kingston, Rhode Island, to defeat the University of Rhode Island 3-2 in a five-set match over the weekend.

Freshman Chidima Osuchukwu had 15 kills, while senior Rachael Goss added 11 kills.

Links:

http://www.laramieproject.org

http://www.fordstheatre.org

http://www.gwsports.com/sports/w-volley/

Bonus Road Trip- Hawaii (2 of 10)

Today, in our latest installment of road trips around the United States, we head to the island of Oahu in Hawaii for what is likely to be our shortest road trip.

Even though Hawaii is not one of the eight states I've never been to (not sure if this includes Michigan as I have been to the Detroit Airport to change planes), it is not a state that comes up very often. Though, Sarah Vowell, one of our favorite authors, has a relatively new book about how the Aloha State came to be one of the
50 states, even though Athens, Greece, is actually closer to Washington, DC, than Honolulu.

And, we go to Honolulu, which is home to the Pyramid Restaurant, an establishment serving Middle Eastern food, for our first destination. The Pyramid is located on Kapahulu Avenue.

For our next city on Oahu, we go to the KOA Pancake House (one of seven in the island-wide chain) on California Avenue in Wahiawa, which has a population of 16,000 folks.

Hawaii is, of course, known for other things besides the music of lounge singer Don Ho (1930-2007) whose biggest hit was "Tiny Bubble" in 1966 and pineapple, but we only have so much time!

So, our question today is just far apart are Honolulu and Wahiawa_ yes, you can get there from car!

Is the answer:

A) 32 minutes

B) 35 minutes

C) 38 minutes

D) 41 minutes

Weekend Road Trip (7 of 20)- Portland, Maine to Altoona, Pa.

You know you've been blogging way too long when you google a term like 'lobster van' on Google Images, and you get a link to your own blog! Such is the case with this image, which is from Myrtle Beach, SC. We have also previously used the Shell Gas Station in Winston-Salem, NC, first built in 1930 which no longer in operation, but has thankfully been preserved as a tourist attraction.

But, today we are actually asking you the devoted blog-reader who has assuredly been with me ever day since we start in September of 2005 how far apart the city of Portland, Maine, is from Altoona, Pa. Of course, since most of our fans are in Uzbekistan and Norway (well, we like to believe that though we were actually linked to an Uzbeki web site--not sure if it still exists!), they are probably confused!

Of course, everyone knows, well everyone outside of Tashkent and Oslo, knows that Maine is known for their lobsters and that is why we chose that image. But, even folks in les etats unis, may not know that Altoona, Pa., is the headquarters of Sheetz, which has like 3.4 million gas stations on the east coast. I have pumped gas at their stations in Ridgeway, Va., Greensboro, NC, Akron, Ohio, and well_Altoona, Pa., among many other places.

Both Portland, Maine, and Altoona, Pa., also have double-A minor league baseball teams in the Eastern League. Friday night, the Portland Sea Dogs lost 9-7 to the New Britain Rock Cats in Connecticut. They host the Binghamton Mets from New York state at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. We were curious to see what a sea dog looked like, and we saw this great image from jellyfishday.blogspot.com, but this blog's managing editor Dennis Alexander* thought the lobster was more suitable.

As for the Altoona Curve, they lost to the Richmond Flying Squirrels (I guess they got permission from the Jay Ward estate as well as the copyright holders of "Rocky and Bullwinkle") in Virginia 3-2 on Saturday.

For this project, we looked at the distance between Longfellow Books, an independent bookstore in Portland, Maine, and Robert's Service Station in Altoona, Pa., which may be one of the three not-Sheetz gas stations in town.

Uh huh, it looks like our Honduran intern Javier**, who is on Spring Break from George Mason University, actually forgot to Mapquest this. Sorry, dear readers. We will have a talk with Javier.

But, we have the answer now; is it:

A) 9 hours

B) 10 hours

C) 11 hours

D) 12 hours

Speaking of indy bookstores, we just saw Sarah Vowell promote her new book "Unfamiliar Fishes" about the American colonization of Hawai'i on C-Span 2 (Book TV). Vowell's talk was recorded at Book People, an indy bookstore in Austin, Tex.

Catherynne M. Valente will talk at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine, about her new book "Deatless" on Apr. 28 at 7:00 p.m. The book is apparently about the conflict between magical history and actual history.

The answer to last week's Weekend Road Trip Quiz was C) 41 hours, 57 minutes_ that's how far apart Las Vegas and Pawtucket, RI, are. See you back here soon....I hope!

*- Dennis Alexander is my psedonymn and in-joke; it is rarely used

**-Yeah, as you expected, there is no Javier the intern!