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Feel the Hair on Your Knuckles: This weekend, there was electronic dance music, and it was loud. Per Chris Richards at the Post: “The only time the music stopped was when the London DJ duo paused to ask the sound engineer to turn it up even more. ‘This is bass music!; Skream shouted, frustrated with the mix. His gripe felt like a rallying cry. In EDM, more is never enough.” This didn’t go over well with the greater Hill East community. Der! Mike DeBonis reports that Councilmartyr Saint Tommy Wells contacted Events DC CEO Greg O’Dell with his concerns over the “troubling incident” of really loud, really incessant dubstep.
Shuttered: DeBonis, who is basically on the arts beat now, also reports that the city will reexamine street photography regulations, which are, at the moment, quite strict: “Under current city regulations, persons or businesses that ‘engage in the business of taking photographs of any person or persons upon the streets, sidewalks, or other public spaces of the District of Columbia, for profit or gain’ must hold a city license and follow a number of rules governing their conduct. Breaking them happens to be an arrestable offense. After I publicized these rules, the [National Press Photographers Association] became concerned that the regulations might be broadly construed to apply to journalists or others beside the street hustlers the rules were intended to apply to.”
The Mean Streets of Rosslyn: Artisphere is suffering another blow with the forthcoming closure of Here Cafe, whose operators have declined to renew the restaurant’s lease. The Rosslyn arts center’s eatery space was initially slated to house a Busboys & Poets; when that failed (and after a period of vacancy), Here moved in. Washington Business Journal notes, “The restaurant had trouble drawing enough traffic from Rosslyn’s business crowd, though [co-owner Karen Barroso] said it was successful from a catering standpoint.” Which may well sum up most of Artisphere’s troubles in general.
Yesterday on Arts Desk: Donate a grand to the Positive Force documentary, and get a house show! Remembering Manon Cleary.