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/

DC Week Teaser (2 of 2): No Pandas, No Problem

Yes, talking heads are bickering on CNN with Anderson Cooper acting as a pro-wrestling referee as we speak, and we imagine that over on Fox News Sean Hannity is blaming his jock itch on President Barack Obama (we don't go there that often, but we couldn't resist!).

On Thursday, we will start a week-long tribute to Washington, DC, the nation's capital, which many Tea Partiers who profess patriotism ironically seemingly hate with a great passion. For those of you in Uzbekistan, there is a federal government shutdown in the United States, which is affecting Washington, D.C., as well as national parks in such red states as Wyoming, Arizona and Utah.

The images pictured above are of: 1) Alex Ovechkin, the star player of the Washington Capitals (ironically, a Russian is the star player for the Caps!); 2) a panda..........currently the National Zoo which had been running a pandacam for a baby panda cub is closed due to the shut down; 3) Cong. Walter Jones (R-NC; he coined the term Freedom fries).

http://washington.org/

http://capitals.nhl.com/

http://jones.house.gov/ (Not an endorsement)

Word of the Day: Zeitgeist

Greetings to those of you blog readers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey (you have to love our sense of humor) as well as any of you who might be checking us out domestically from Maine, Hawaii or Wyoming. Welcome to "The Daily Vampire"!

Anyway, we are aware that Jimmy Carter is trending on the Internet as is the controversial "Rolling Stone" cover, but we will stick with our basic plan, which is to secretly invade Albania (just kidding)!

For those of you who reside in Bolivia, Honduras or Mexico, we imagine the English language must have its challenges and that is certainly true with the word 'zeitgeist' which actually derives from German.

A zeitgeist as it is defined by Wikipedia means: "Intellectual fashion or prevailing school of thought which influences at the same juncture or 'spirit of times.'

We can use it in the following sentence: "I felt the zeitgeist in Ingmar Berman's film 'Persona,'" the classic Swedish film which is pictured above..........hmm.........yeah guess that doesn't help much, but we tried!

The Backpackers Are Beside BestBuy (entry 4 of 6)

We had great difficulties finding an image of "In Flux" by All Creations, which consists of two Wyoming artists Matt Rink and Bland Hoke, so we also went with this image of a big black dog, since the public art display is located behind Black Dog Salvage off Memorial Avenue in Roanoke, Va.

The fourth image of Art in Roanoke that I photographed is also the hardest one to find as there is a sharp curve behind the Black Dog Salvage antiques store which leads to Vic Thomas Park where "In Flux" is located. The turn comes right after one passes Memorial Bridge, and if you literally blink you will miss it.

The artists state that their mission is to: "Try to make constantly evolving work that adapts to a landscape."

"In Flux" is perhaps the most complicated of the seven sculptures, and it is one that makes the passerby study and scrutinize it more closely than some of the other pieces.

SIDEBAR: We are happy to report that DJ Cigdem Arca is returning to WUVT (90.7 FM-Blacksburg, Va.) with "The Turkish Music Hour," from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on Saturdays this fall. WUVT-FM is the student-run college radio station of Virginia Tech. The station also airs "The Greek Show" from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Thanks to "The Turkish Music Hour," I have become more aware of contemporary pop singers like Nil Karaibrahimgil which is quite refreshing given that the likes of Sezen Aksu ( who has been called The Turkish Madonna) and Tarkan, the internationally-known singer who has dominated Turkish pop for well over a decade.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today: Michele Bachmann Headline-Maker

I've been a fan of Suzy Khimm, a great liberal reporter, since she wrote an excellent profile of Virginia's crazed right-wing maniac attorney Ken Cuccinelli, who looks like a grown-up Pinocchio doll, in the December 2010 issue of "Mother Jones."

This afternoon, Khimm tweeted the following:

"Daily Beast's most popular articles today: 1) Is Michele Bachmann submissive? 2)Queen of the Cougars."

We didn't want to put a photo of Bachmann up, since she does look like a professional female wrestler. And, ironically, her state of Minnesota elected a pro wrestler, Jesse Ventura, for governor.

(These headlines are in reference to Bachmann's 'performance' during the Republican debate in Ames, Iowa, last night. I didn't watch, but I gather her heated exchanges with Tim Pawlenty were very amusing. Pawlenty took over after Ventrua's term expired as governor of Minnesota.)

So, instead, we went with this image of a gorgreous Wyoming chainsaw cougar. We tried to find a cougar from Colorado, but I guess we will have to find one somewhere on the net some other time.

And, we thought that since Bachmann apparently wants to turn back the clock on social progress, we'd include an image of a Tupperware party. Perhaps, if elected president (of course, that will mean many of us on the center-left will get one-way plane tickets from Expedia to Costa Rica), she will also segregate schools again.

SIDEBAR: I saw a bumper sticker in Roanoke, Va., which I'm surprised even an ardent Republican would put on his or her vehicle: it is an image of George W. Bush with the line- "Do You Miss Me Yet?," well let me just give you the short answer, NO!

Political Confusion Test (19 of 21) Dijon Mustard or Buffalo Beef Jerky?

It appears that right-wing talk show hosts will get ticked with President Barack Obama for virtually anything he does. Case in point, Sean Hannity recently whined about Obama putting French Dijon mustard on a hamburger during his visit to a burger joint with Vice President Joe Biden in Arlington, Va.

So, this leads me to ask those of you independent voters out there which way you lean politically. If you prefer imported mustard over buffalo beef jerky which one can at Jackson Hole Meat in Jackson Hole, Wyo. (do we need to mention that it's located in Dick Cheney's home state), then might be a Democrat.