Historic district in Washington D.C.
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4 episodes with U Street
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2 episodes with U Street
In the first Hearing the Council interview of 2025, Ward One Councilmember Brianne Nadeau discusses two of her initial legislative priorities for the New Year: her soon-to-be-introduced bottle deposit and Neighborhood Management Entities bills. Councilmember Nadeau discusses how the bottle (and can) deposit bill would aim to greatly reduce the amount of these items in our rivers and woods, as well as on our streets. Every resident and business would be empowered to tackle the dual goals of environmental protection and neighborhood beautification through this proposed measure. Additionally, she discusses how her proposed Neighborhood Management Entities bill would allow dense mixed use communities like Ward 1's U Street and Columbia Heights neighborhoods to better and more collaboratively tackle issues and projects, from cleanliness to safety to event planning. Plus, as always, we had the "fun round," where Councilmember Nadeau selected which of her colleagues would be best suited to join her in tackling a range of tasks, from putting on a puppet show to meeting with the Trump Administration.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · The Tabard Inn is the oldest continuously operating inn in Washington D.C. opening its doors in 1922. Old in years but definitely au courant, the Inn is a lively dining destination thanks to Executive Chef Matthew Zafrir, who won Washington City Paper's 2024 award for best chef in D.C. Joining us today is his beverage director, Dominik Lenikowski, with tastes and talk of the Tabard Inn's cocktail program; · Mitsitam means “let's eat!” in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. At the Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Chef Alex Strong is leading a new team and menu presenting Native foods in a decidedly delicious way; · Founded by Emily Friedberg and Jean-Louise Conaway, D.C.'s Each Peach Market came about when the two friends discovered their mutual love of good food and deep curiosity for where it comes and how it is made. They also love to bring people together around the table. Ergo, Each Peach, to help our community discover amazing food and inspire the DIY culinary spirit; · In Arabic, “Yalla” mean's “let's go!” So, let's go to Lebanese chef Marcel Chehaieb's Yalla on U Street. It serves up tantalizing Middle Eastern cuisine... and echoes of a great night out in downtown Beirut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · The Tabard Inn is the oldest continuously operating inn in Washington D.C. opening its doors in 1922. Old in years but definitely au courant, the Inn is a lively dining destination thanks to Executive Chef Matthew Zafrir, who won Washington City Paper's 2024 award for best chef in D.C. Joining us today is his beverage director, Dominik Lenikowski, with tastes and talk of the Tabard Inn's cocktail program; · Mitsitam means “let's eat!” in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. At the Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Chef Alex Strong is leading a new team and menu presenting Native foods in a decidedly delicious way; · Founded by Emily Friedberg and Jean-Louise Conaway, D.C.'s Each Peach Market came about when the two friends discovered their mutual love of good food and deep curiosity for where it comes and how it is made. They also love to bring people together around the table. Ergo, Each Peach, to help our community discover amazing food and inspire the DIY culinary spirit; · In Arabic, “Yalla” mean's “let's go!” So, let's go to Lebanese chef Marcel Chehaieb's Yalla on U Street. It serves up tantalizing Middle Eastern cuisine... and echoes of a great night out in downtown Beirut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · The Tabard Inn is the oldest continuously operating inn in Washington D.C. opening its doors in 1922. Old in years but definitely au courant, the Inn is a lively dining destination thanks to Executive Chef Matthew Zafrir, who won Washington City Paper's 2024 award for best chef in D.C. Joining us today is his beverage director, Dominik Lenikowski, with tastes and talk of the Tabard Inn's cocktail program; · Mitsitam means “let's eat!” in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. At the Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Chef Alex Strong is leading a new team and menu presenting Native foods in a decidedly delicious way; · Founded by Emily Friedberg and Jean-Louise Conaway, D.C.'s Each Peach Market came about when the two friends discovered their mutual love of good food and deep curiosity for where it comes and how it is made. They also love to bring people together around the table. Ergo, Each Peach, to help our community discover amazing food and inspire the DIY culinary spirit; · In Arabic, “Yalla” mean's “let's go!” So, let's go to Lebanese chef Marcel Chehaieb's Yalla on U Street. It serves up tantalizing Middle Eastern cuisine... and echoes of a great night out in downtown Beirut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · The Tabard Inn is the oldest continuously operating inn in Washington D.C. opening its doors in 1922. Old in years but definitely au courant, the Inn is a lively dining destination thanks to Executive Chef Matthew Zafrir, who won Washington City Paper's 2024 award for best chef in D.C. Joining us today is his beverage director, Dominik Lenikowski, with tastes and talk of the Tabard Inn's cocktail program; · Mitsitam means “let's eat!” in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. At the Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Chef Alex Strong is leading a new team and menu presenting Native foods in a decidedly delicious way; · Founded by Emily Friedberg and Jean-Louise Conaway, D.C.'s Each Peach Market came about when the two friends discovered their mutual love of good food and deep curiosity for where it comes and how it is made. They also love to bring people together around the table. Ergo, Each Peach, to help our community discover amazing food and inspire the DIY culinary spirit; · In Arabic, “Yalla” mean's “let's go!” So, let's go to Lebanese chef Marcel Chehaieb's Yalla on U Street. It serves up tantalizing Middle Eastern cuisine... and echoes of a great night out in downtown Beirut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In our latest #HearingTheCouncil interview, Ward One Councilmember Brianne Nadeau talks about the much-discussed redevelopment at the 17th/U intersection. A compromise rezoning--less than what was initially proposed, but more than critics hoped for--recently received its first approval. We talk impacts on affordable housing, the police and fire department facilities currently and subsequently to be housed on the site, and the hint of potential library services in a potential eventual redevelopment project. Plus: the travails of a Councilmember attempting to go phone-less to Girl Scout camp, or when honeymooning
If you're new here, welcome! We've put together a starter pack for you, with episodes and articles to welcome you to the City Cast community. Happy July everyone! July in DC has a lot to offer, despite the oppressive weather. Our hosts Mike Schaffer and Bridget Todd are here to talk about what to do when it's hot and muggy and gross out this month. For even more tips on how to make the most of July in DC, check out Hey DC's take on what to do this month. If you enjoyed today's interview with District Bridges Main Street Manager at U Street, Lindsey Hicks, learn more here. Learn more about the sponsors of this July 1st episode: Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District District Bridges And City Cast DC is also powered by our members, who enjoy an ad-free version of the show. Find out more about how to become a member of City Cast DC. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE Reach us at dc@citycast.fm. And we'd love to feature you on the show! Share your DC-related thoughts, hopes, and frustrations with us in a voicemail by calling 202-642-2654. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There's been a crazy fight going on about whether to erect an apartment building on the site of an old firehouse on U Street — and it's a fight worth watching because it says a lot about what it takes to actually build anything in D.C. Paul Schwartzman from the Washington Post has been covering it and is here to walk us through the wild details. Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $8 a month. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE And we'd love to feature you on the show! Share your DC-related thoughts, hopes, and frustrations with us in a voicemail by calling 202-642-2654. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hey All and thanks for joining me again on this week's Industry Night. So excited to spend this month at Tony & Joe's down on the waterfront in Georgetown. If you live in the DMV or have ever visited this city chances are you've been here. They have one of the best patios. It looks out on the Potomac with views of the Kennedy Center. Seriously on a gorgeous day you want to sit out on that patio with a tray of fresh shucked oysters and a glass of Rose and watch the boats go by. So special thanks as always to Greg Casten for being such a tremendous supporter of me, this show and the work that I do. I'm going to chat with Greg in a minute about the history of Tony and Joes and Tony - Greg's Uncle Tony - who was such a character and just recently passed away. Later in the show, I'll be chatting with good friend and wine authority Winn Roberton. Winn runs the show at Michael Mina's Bourbon steak and I love talking wine with him. And by the end of today's show, you will too. But first — one of my favorite things to do is talk about where I am eating and I kid you not, I have been seriously out and about and eating all the good things — mostly! -I celebrated the Lunar New Year with Scott Drewno & Danny Lee at Chiko for their Lunar New Year Tea — They brought in Jill Nguyen of Capitol Jill Baking and Caroline Ta of Sweets by Caroline — ginger scones, dumplings, tea sandwiches and milk buns -Popped into Fiola for a glass of Mt Etna Bianco & airy gnocchi -Love a Rasika check in and on a Friday it is hopping -I've been to Moon Rabbit twice in the last two weeks — it is that good — you may have listened to my show with Kevin Tien & Susan Bae and team that I did there before they opened and everything that we talked about — their intention, commitment, passion — it all ends up on the plate. There's also a really sunny vibe — they are all so happy to be there and be open and be serving delicious mod -Vietnamese. Do not miss the pate chaud or any of Susan's desserts. -I stopped by Tail Up Goat. They are now doing a tasting menu only in the dining room so I just sat at the bar had a wonderful glass of La Croix Gratiot Les Zazous — a truly lovely white that Bill Jensen recommended. He also poured me a funky wine - Sipon from Slovenia — and of course he poured me a riesling because it makes him crazy that I don't like it an I have to tell you — he didn't even try. He poured me a riesling that had a sweet finish and I was like you gotta be kidding me. When I bring in Winn we are going to talk about Somms and their love of riesling Last one — although I have so many more places that I have been — I went to Service Bar. Now if you know me you know I'm not really a cocktail drinker. But it had been a minute since I had been in and I was looking forward to catching up with Christine Kim. Again, the city was pretty lit up. U Street had bars filled and people waiting on lines to get in and other people pouring out of the bars. So fun. They play amazing music and if you are a cocktail drinker while the place looks like a hole in the wall — the cocktails are thoughtful, balanced and well made Okay! On to today's show! When you are at Bourbon Steak there is a very tall individual walking around busily taking care of all the patrons — you cannot miss Winn Roberton the head sommelier at Bourbon Steak. And there's over 750 labels on that wine list! A local boy! Raised in Washington, DC, Winn's journey into the world of wine started as a server at Bourbon Steak in 2008. Quotes "Turning this complex into an island demanded unique efforts. Sometimes, reaching it required a boat, reflecting resilience and determination." - Winn Roberton "I love sparkling wine, especially champagne. It's versatile and food-friendly, my go-to choice both at home and when I'm out." - Winn Roberton Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 03:50 - Rasika: A Culinary Delight with Vibrant Flavors 06:42 - Service Bar: Crafted Cocktails and Inviting Ambiance 16:06 - Embarking on a Journey through Hospitality and Wine 20:43 - Decoding the Intricacies of Wine Flavors 29:14 - Fostering Wine Conversations and Building Connections 29:58 - Exploring and Navigating the Vast World of Wine 35:14 - Unpacking the Nuances of Hospitality, Tea, and Wine Lists 37:01 - Discovering the World of Unique Sparkling Wines 39:28 - Revealing Champagne Secrets for Enthusiasts 44:10 - Anticipating Future Changes in the Business Landscape 49:53 - Conclusion Guests Social Media Links: Winn Roberton Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourbonsteakdc?igsh=enR3dGF0bmcyOGd6 Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/bourbonsteakdc Website: https://www.fourseasons.com/washington/dining/restaurants/bourbon_steak/ Featuring Nycci Nellis https://www.instagram.com/nyccinellis/ https://www.thelistareyouonit.com/ Powered by Heartcast Media http://www.heartcastmedia.com
Partylife strikes again this time very close to a very close friend of mind
The word “iconic” gets used too much in D.C. But in the case of Ben's Chili Bowl, the U Street Mecca for late-night half-smokes, it fits. Bridget and Mike sat down with Virginia Ali, the matriarch of the restaurant which turns 65 today! They talk about the early days serving Howard University students, living through the fires of 1968, and what business is like in spiffed-up 21st century U Street. Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE We're also on Twitter! Follow us at @citycast_dc And we'd love to feature you on the show! Share your DC-related thoughts, hopes, and frustrations with us in a voicemail by calling 202-642-2654. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of Red Carpet, we take a look inside Washington DC's U Street, Okway Osadebe keeping his father's legacy alive, and a soccer academy in Burtonsville, Maryland, founded by a Togolese immigrant is changing lives and training children to be stars on and off the pitch.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · Glendon Hartley, co-owner of U Street's celebrated Service Bar and a partner at the equally celebrated Peruvian concepts, Causa and Bar Amazonia, is West Indian. But he's really a cultural citizen of the world whose inquisitiveness, travels and research infuse his hospitality concepts and cocktails with unique blends of international influences. Glendon is in with some creative cocktail concocting and tales of Causa and Amazonia; · We can't seem to stop there with talk of cocktails – that's why Lukas Smith, the self-described “mad scientist of the D.C. craft bartending scene,” is here. He's a spirits educator, the Line Hotel's beverage director and co-owner of Made To Measure Cocktails in to whip us up about his quest to bring the practical use of whole botanicals back into the purview of the working mixologist. Can he do it? Is he Don Quixote? We'll see! · Rick Easton, the James Beard Award-nominated owner of cult-favorite bakery Bread & Salt, has a riveting cookbook/manifesto called ”Bread and How to Eat It.” His premise is that people will line up around the block to buy bread from popular bakeries, without really appreciating the many qualities of this humble product. You'll find out what he means when we are joined by his just-as-famous coauthor, life partner and our old and good friend, Eater's Melissa McCart; · Anna Valero is Kraken Up! As the genius entrepreneur behind Hook Hall, the event space and community gathering space in Park View, she's now also the driving force behind D.C.'s ONLY indoor roller skating and pickleball venue, Kraken Kourts & Skates. Anna's rolling in later to explain what makes her world go ‘round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · Glendon Hartley, co-owner of U Street's celebrated Service Bar and a partner at the equally celebrated Peruvian concepts, Causa and Bar Amazonia, is West Indian. But he's really a cultural citizen of the world whose inquisitiveness, travels and research infuse his hospitality concepts and cocktails with unique blends of international influences. Glendon is in with some creative cocktail concocting and tales of Causa and Amazonia; · We can't seem to stop there with talk of cocktails – that's why Lukas Smith, the self-described “mad scientist of the D.C. craft bartending scene,” is here. He's a spirits educator, the Line Hotel's beverage director and co-owner of Made To Measure Cocktails in to whip us up about his quest to bring the practical use of whole botanicals back into the purview of the working mixologist. Can he do it? Is he Don Quixote? We'll see! · Rick Easton, the James Beard Award-nominated owner of cult-favorite bakery Bread & Salt, has a riveting cookbook/manifesto called ”Bread and How to Eat It.” His premise is that people will line up around the block to buy bread from popular bakeries, without really appreciating the many qualities of this humble product. You'll find out what he means when we are joined by his just-as-famous coauthor, life partner and our old and good friend, Eater's Melissa McCart; · Anna Valero is Kraken Up! As the genius entrepreneur behind Hook Hall, the event space and community gathering space in Park View, she's now also the driving force behind D.C.'s ONLY indoor roller skating and pickleball venue, Kraken Kourts & Skates. Anna's rolling in later to explain what makes her world go ‘round.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · Glendon Hartley, co-owner of U Street's celebrated Service Bar and a partner at the equally celebrated Peruvian concepts, Causa and Bar Amazonia, is West Indian. But he's really a cultural citizen of the world whose inquisitiveness, travels and research infuse his hospitality concepts and cocktails with unique blends of international influences. Glendon is in with some creative cocktail concocting and tales of Causa and Amazonia; · We can't seem to stop there with talk of cocktails – that's why Lukas Smith, the self-described “mad scientist of the D.C. craft bartending scene,” is here. He's a spirits educator, the Line Hotel's beverage director and co-owner of Made To Measure Cocktails in to whip us up about his quest to bring the practical use of whole botanicals back into the purview of the working mixologist. Can he do it? Is he Don Quixote? We'll see! · Rick Easton, the James Beard Award-nominated owner of cult-favorite bakery Bread & Salt, has a riveting cookbook/manifesto called ”Bread and How to Eat It.” His premise is that people will line up around the block to buy bread from popular bakeries, without really appreciating the many qualities of this humble product. You'll find out what he means when we are joined by his just-as-famous coauthor, life partner and our old and good friend, Eater's Melissa McCart; · Anna Valero is Kraken Up! As the genius entrepreneur behind Hook Hall, the event space and community gathering space in Park View, she's now also the driving force behind D.C.'s ONLY indoor roller skating and pickleball venue, Kraken Kourts & Skates. Anna's rolling in later to explain what makes her world go ‘round.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. On today's show: · Glendon Hartley, co-owner of U Street's celebrated Service Bar and a partner at the equally celebrated Peruvian concepts, Causa and Bar Amazonia, is West Indian. But he's really a cultural citizen of the world whose inquisitiveness, travels and research infuse his hospitality concepts and cocktails with unique blends of international influences. Glendon is in with some creative cocktail concocting and tales of Causa and Amazonia; · We can't seem to stop there with talk of cocktails – that's why Lukas Smith, the self-described “mad scientist of the D.C. craft bartending scene,” is here. He's a spirits educator, the Line Hotel's beverage director and co-owner of Made To Measure Cocktails in to whip us up about his quest to bring the practical use of whole botanicals back into the purview of the working mixologist. Can he do it? Is he Don Quixote? We'll see! · Rick Easton, the James Beard Award-nominated owner of cult-favorite bakery Bread & Salt, has a riveting cookbook/manifesto called ”Bread and How to Eat It.” His premise is that people will line up around the block to buy bread from popular bakeries, without really appreciating the many qualities of this humble product. You'll find out what he means when we are joined by his just-as-famous coauthor, life partner and our old and good friend, Eater's Melissa McCart; · Anna Valero is Kraken Up! As the genius entrepreneur behind Hook Hall, the event space and community gathering space in Park View, she's now also the driving force behind D.C.'s ONLY indoor roller skating and pickleball venue, Kraken Kourts & Skates. Anna's rolling in later to explain what makes her world go ‘round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today on the pod, we have a conversation with one of the biggest contributors to African American Preservation alive today... Brent Leggs! If you're in historic preservation – or a similar field– you probably heard of Brent. But for those of you who haven't — Brent is a Senior Vice President at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And while Brent has done many amazing things to preserve African American heritage, as the Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, he's raised over 80 MILLION DOLLARS for Black heritage organizations. We talked to Brent about: Brent's education at University of Kentucky [6:35] Brent's childhood in Paducah, Kentucky [9:52] Preserving the intangible as well as the tangible [16:34] Preservation-Based Economic Development and who's doing it well [33:44] The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund: deciding who to fund? [59:18] Training future preservationists [1:09:14] Brent's ideal Urban Roots episode [1:10:46] Mentioned In this Episode: Lejuano Varnell, Sweet Auburn Works - Atlanta, Georgia 8th of August - Paducah, Kentucky Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative - Montgomery, Alabama Jair Lynch and Howard University, U Street development - Washington, D.C. Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, and Phylicia Rashad, Actor and director - Co-Chairs of Advisory Council for the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Civil Rights Trail - Alabama Dr. David Childs, Director of Black Studies at Northern Kentucky University Palmer Pharmacy - Lexington, Kentucky Eldorado ballroom - Houston, Texas Faith Ringold - Englewood, New Jersey James Weldon Johnson (and Sheryl Lee Ralph) Lucille Clifton - Baltimore, Maryland Credits: Thank you to Brent Leggs. This episode was edited and mixed by Connor Lynch. Our music is by Adaam James Levin-Areddy. Your hosts are Deqah Hussein-Wetzel and Vanessa Quirk. Urban Roots is a product of Urbanist Media, a non-profit dedicated to community preservation. You can make a tax-deductible donation to us via Venmo or Paypal. Follow us on IG @urbanrootsculture. Drop us an email urbanrootspodcast@gmail.com
D.C. burned for days in April 1968, after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, and Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street was one of the only places in town whose doors were kept open by the city. Bridget Todd and Michael Schaffer visited Founder Virginia Ali at her restaurant to reflect on what D.C., and Ben's, were like during that time. Check out part one of our series about 1968 — our interview with Vann Newkirk, the host of The Atlantic podcast “Holy Week.” Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE. We're also on Twitter! Follow us at @citycast_dc (TRY TO CHANGE IT UP EVERY TIME) And we'd love to feature you on the show! Share your DC-related thoughts, hopes, and frustrations with us in a voicemail by calling 202-642-2654. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, I speak with author Leslye Penelope about her latest novel, The Monsters We Defy, set in Washington DC during the 1920s shortly after the DC riot of 1919. People are disappearing from an all-Black community in Washington, DC and they all seem to go into a zombie-like trance right before disappearing. Clara Johnson, a woman who can communicate with spirits, decides to solve this mystery after several people from her community come to her asking for help. And what comes after is a whodunnit, Agatha Christie-type story with twists, turns and lots of magic as Clara and her team of unlikely allies-- including a hypnotic jazz musician and an aging actor with the ability to change his face--race against time to solve an insidious mystery that could change the fate of the entire city.Please support this independent podcast. Every little bit helps me continue to bring you new and exciting content. By supporting BTR, you'll be helping me continue to amplify and celebrate Black voices. Here are three easy ways to support the show: A one-time donation at https://ko-fi.com/betweenthereadspodcast A recurring monthly donation at https://www.patreon.com/betweenthereads. Purchase Between the Reads swag at https://www.betweenthereads.com/store/
Kamal was born on July 29, 1962 at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC. He attended Shepherd Elementary School, Georgetown Day School and the University of Pennsylvania. He grew up working at his family's business, Ben's Chili Bowl, as a teenager. He has been married 22 years to Sonya Jamil Ali. Keep up with Kamal @kamaliali | @benseverything BEN'S CHILI BOWL EXPANSIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS Ben's Bakery and Ice Cream 1986 which operated at the Reeves Center at 14th & U Street for 20 years. Ben's Chili Bowl Addition in 2003 to add a dining room for 60 to accommodate tour and bus groups. Ben's Next Door Restaurant and Bar – Opened 2008, Full Service Restaurant, developed 9,000 sf building at 1211 U Street Nationals' Baseball Park – Outlets, Opened 2008 Fedex Field -Redskins Park Outlet, Opened 2011 Ben's Chili Bowl Rosslyn, VA – Opened 2014, First Full Ben's Chili Bowl expansion, developed 1700 sf space at 1725 Wilson Blvd, VA Ben's Chili Bowl DCA, VA – Opened 2015, Ben's Chili Bowl airport expansion in National Hall between concourse B&C Ben's Chili Bowl H ST – Opened 2015, Third Full Ben's Chili Bowl expansion, constructed new 4 level building at 1001 H ST NE TEN 01 (share plates, rooftop, bar) – Opened 2015, Developed new concept for second full service restaurant housed on two floors at 1001 H ST NE --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dreamsbyanymeans/message
For Valentine's Day, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by xChange — brings you a classic boy-meets-girl love story. Virginia Rollins had moved to Washington, D.C., as a young woman in the 1950s and got a job as a teller at Industrial Bank, a Black bank still operating in the nation's capital. A young bank customer named Ben Ali came in to make a deposit, but he was smitten with Virginia and left his phone number too. To make a long story short, Virginia and Ben founded one of Washington's most legendary dining establishments, Ben's Chili Bowl in the heart of “Black Broadway” on U Street. Virginia reflects on her early career in banking, how the connections she made at the bank helped her and Ben grow their business and the importance of minority depository institutions today. She also shares stories of hosting Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, surviving the 1968 D.C. riots and the long years of urban renewal and how Ben's has grown today.
In today's episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast, we have Yianni with us. He embarked on his journey in real estate after a long and successful career in global digital marketing where he worked with some of the world's most prominent brands. Today, he will be sharing some tips on thriving in a competitive real estate market. Yianni's tip: Hire agents from diverse backgrounds and stay differentiated to Find opportunities that aren't publicly available and secure more off market properties. Guest Bio: Yianni served as the Group Managing Director of social@Ogilvy and was based in Sydney, Australia where he managed a staff of 16 people working across advertising, digital marketing, and communications disciplines. Under his leadership, the social@ogilvy team was able to double revenues, reduce costs, and win several prestigious awards across Asia-Pacific. He maintains an active real estate portfolio that includes rental units in Adam Morgan, U Street, and Columbia Heights, and is always excited to meet new people who share his energy for the dynamic Washington, D.C. property market. Find Yianni Konstantopoulos: Website, LinkedIn [EDITOR'S NOTE: This podcast is sponsored by No Limits Selling. It is a fun, fast-paced podcast that delivers hard-fought business advice that you can implement today to improve your sales and performance] Interested In Our Real Estate Coaching Services? Explore Our Website: Link Feeling Not Well Today? You Can Use Our Mindset Boosters App To amp Up Your Mood: Link Find us on Social Media: LinkedIn | Facebook community | Instagram Like what do you listen to? Subscribe to our podcast! Ready to become fearless? We can help you become fearless in 60 days so you accomplish more in your career Schedule A 15 min Call with Umar
Join the guys as they discuss not discussing the downfall of Ye, the potential downfall of Commanders Owner Synder, the downfall of Laker's Westbrook, the downfall of Broncos QB Wilson, and many more downfalls... lol
DC hip-hop legend Priest Da Nomad stops by to give Chip and Tez a little bit if DC hip-hop history, talk about his new album, and how he saved the country from COVID. Plus Ukraine, J6, and a whole bunch of other stuff!
Yianni Konstantopoulos is the Founder and Team Leader of The THRIVE Team at Compass. Yianni's passion for real estate began at a young age as he can vividly recall spending summer days working hand in hand with his father and brother, who are both still active real estate developers in the area. Having grown up in the Washington Metropolitan Area across the past 30 years, Yianni possesses a deep knowledge of the city's many neighborhoods and offers his clients a truly local's perspective. He maintains an active real estate portfolio that includes rental units in Adam Morgan, U Street, and Columbia Heights, and is always excited to meet new people who share his energy for the dynamic Washington, D.C. property market. Yianni works closely with clients across the real estate spectrum, from first-time buyers looking to find and settle in their ‘perfect' home, to multi-unit developers looking to re-envision DC's vibrant neighborhoods, to institutional investors looking to maximize capital. Yianni is a graduate of the George Washington University. When not busy working with clients, he can be found outside hiking through Rock Creek Park, coaching the FC Spartan Glory soccer club or the JV team at St. Albans, or just playing with the couple's dog @apollothevizsla. Yianni believes it is critical for real estate agents to know and love the neighborhoods in which they work, and proudly lives in The Kentlands with his wife Lisa and their two young children. Yianni is licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland, & Virginia. www.alwaysbethriving.com
On August 8, 2021, three officers (later joined by others) attempted to arrest a man in the 1500 block of U Street in the Anacostia neighborhood. The man was suspected of distributing drugs and was believed to possess a handgun. As two officers held the man's arms and attempted to handcuff him, another officer punched the man in the face/head approximately 8 times. The incident was captured on video, quickly uploaded, and became the source of community outcry. The officers were suspended and referred for criminal prosecution. In this episode of BWTBL, Serge and Clarke evaluate the case by use of the MPD's Use of Force policy. This is the first of two episodes on this subject that we hope will be of interest to anyone attempting to understand the actions of the officer, the Department or the United States Attorney.
Poets Sylvia Dianne “Ladi Di” Beverly, Patrick Washington, Diane Wilbon Parks, and Hiram Larew with Cliff Bernier on harmonica present and discuss poems, music, and artwork about America's history of slavery. This powerful, all-too-timely 60-minute program reimagines the voices and legacy of those enslaved at the historic Woodlawn Plantation Estate in Fairfax, VA. Sylvia Dianne Beverly is an internationally acclaimed poet, presenting poetry in London, England, at the Lewisham Theatre. A collection of her work is housed at George Washington University's Gelman Library. She is a member of A Splendid Wake, Gelman Library, George Washington University. Also, she has been featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of History, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum, and other Smithsonians. Ladi Di as she is affectionally called is a founding member of the poetry ensemble "Collective Voices." She is a proud member of Writers on the Green Line, Poetry X Hunger, Poetry Poster Project, and Voices of Woodlawn. Ladi Di celebrated the 40th anniversary of host Grace Cavalieri, reading on her show, The Poet and the Poem, at the Library of Congress. Also, she is a founding member of the Anointed PENS (Poets Empowered to Nurture Souls) Poetry Ministry, out of Ebenezer AME Church, an alum of Poet-In-Progress with Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia, the late Dolores Kendrick. She is author of two books (Forever In Your Eyes and Cooking Up South), both on Amazon. Recently her poetry appears in several international anthologies, the Moonstone Press Anthology, and as part of Mike Maggio's 30 for 30 series for National Poetry Month 2021. Ladi Di is also called "Love Poet." The late Dr. Maya Angelou is her hero. She is the proud matriarch of her family. Celebrating Black History 2018, she and her family received posthumously for her Dad a Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Marines. She is a Poet of Excellence in Prince Georges County 2020. Poetry is her passion. Contact her at syladydi@comcast.net or on Facebook. Patrick Washington has spent over two decades performing, conducting interactive workshops, and spreading love for the spoken, the written, and the rhythmic word across this country. His engaging have taken him across the country and back, from Washington's storied U Street circuit, to television and off-Broadway theater performances. Patrick was commissioned to create a poem dedicating the monument to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King which he performed at the unveiling on the National Mall on October 16th, 2011. A teaching artist at heart, he has launched his own arts education company, Dialect of Prince George's, and with it created the Youth Poet Laureate program, giving young people the opportunity to collaborate with city officials and serve as poetic ambassadors for their community. Diane Wilbon Parks is a visual poet and artist; she has written two poetry collections and a children's book. Diane is the founder of The Write Blend, a culturally diverse poetry circle, and was recognized as a 2020 Prince George's County Poet of Excellence. She celebrated the permanent installation of one of her poems and artwork as a permanent sign at the Patuxent Research Refuge - North Tract. Diane's poetry has been widely featured and highlighted throughout the DMV through the Poetry Poster Project which was exhibited throughout Maryland and at the House of Delegates in Annapolis. Diane has been a long-standing literary advocate and leader in the poetry community. Her poetry has been featured in newsletters, online magazines, and anthologies, and recently included in the international anthology Singing in the Dark and international magazine Wexford Women; locally in the Annapolis Westfield Magazine. Her interviews are included in the 43rd and 44th anniversaries of Grace Cavalieri's The Poet and the Poem at the Library of Congress. Diane is a USAF Veteran and Senior IT Program Manager. She resides in Maryland with husband, two children, and dog, Cooper. Hiram Larew's next collection of poems will be published by Atmosphere Press. He has organized the Poetry Poster Project, Poetry X Hunger, and Voices of Woodlawn. He lives in Churchton, MD. Clifford Bernier is the author of three poetry collections; he has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and his The Silent Art won the 2010 Gival Press Poetry Award. He appears on harmonica in the Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. A member of the Washington Writers Collection, he has featured on NPR's The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress and lives in Northern Virginia. Pictured: (top row) Clifford Bernier, Sylvia Dianne Beverly, (bottom row) Hiram Larew, Diane Wilbon Parks, Patrick Washington. Recorded On: Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Hello everybody and welcome to this week's episode of Attendance Bias. This week's guest is trumpet for DC-based bands, Skyscrapers and the Monumental Brass Quintet, Mike Lowe. As Mike's band played their first gigs and figured out their sound as indie jam rock, COVID hit and the band had to take a forced hiatus from the stage. But as you'll hear him say in today's episode, they're getting ready to return to the U Street bars in Washington.For today's episode, Mike picked a monster jam; “Fluffhead” from July 24, 1999 at Alpine Valley. Indeed, this version of Fluffhead is unlike any other that the band has played. Stretching for over 32 minutes, with a type 2 jam that is almost entirely led by Mike's melodic bass playing, the band has yet to play a version that displays an equal amount of musical creativity. Mike describes how fans had their jaws drop to the floor after it was played, unexpectedly as the second song of the show. So let's join Mike to talk about his band Skyscrapers, Phish's sound in 1998, and "Fluffhead" from July 24, 1999 at Alpine Valley.
In Episode 22, Mike takes us on another spin around his hometown of Washington D.C. where he waited out the pandemic. This episode begins with the D.C. origins of the world's most famous clown, Ronald McDonald. Then we'll hear the incredible story of the Old Brick Capitol and its place in American history. Next up we'll stop by the iconic and legendary Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street for a delicious Half-Smoke. From there we'll trace the origin of Washington's favorite dinosaur, Uncle Beazley, who currently lives at the National Zoo. Finally we'll hear the story of Native Washingtonian Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected Black Senator in American history. Music in this episode comes from D.C. based singer-songwriter Ken Francis Wenzel's album …Beneath Potomac Skies. Find out more at our website www.miles2gobeforeisleep.com.
Ep 115 of #WHATSAPODCAST finds the crew paying their respects to photographer Chi Modu (R.I.P.) , discussing their latest night out in the streets (it was a doozy), and Abdul finding out the importance of “Sweet Caroline” to the pilgrim existence. The fellas discuss how wack the show Friends is/was, talk about the new Mach Hommy album (banger!), and speak about the effects of gentrification in DC - it’s a great listen! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/whatsapodcast)
In this episode Jake Sherman, now of Punchbowl News, joins Katie to talk about...well...pretty much everything. Topics range from insurrections to the California Governor, to the bar scene on U Street.
Briana Thomas highlights the notable people and places along the corridor in her new book 'Black Broadway in Washington, D.C.'
INTERVIEW - VIRGINIA ALI, co-founder and owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl, joined WMAL's morning show today to discuss how the James Beard Foundation has chosen Ben’s Chili Bowl to be a recipient of their #SaveOurRestaurants initiative, helping independent restaurants survive the COVID-19 crisis. The James Beard Foundation is partnering with The History Channel to help save historic businesses like Ben’s Chili Bowl, a historic landmark restaurant located on U Street in Washington, D.C. On Twitter, the @beardfoundation will donate to donate $1 for posts featuring your favorite local eatery and the hashtag #SaveOurRestaurants. The History Channel will air Season 2 of "The Food That Built America" on The HISTORY Channel with a special sneak preview today, February 9th at 10 PM ET before a regular timeslot on Sundays at 9 pm ET. Ben's Chili Bowl will be featured in one of the episodes. To learn more about #SaveOurRestaurants campaign: https://twitter.com/WMALDC/status/1359136020474847234 https://twitter.com/HISTORY/status/1357721572069564422 Click here for more about the partnership between HISTORY Channel and The James Beard Foundation. FOR MORE ABOUT BEN'S CHILI BOWL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/benschilibowl Website: https://benschilibowl.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bio As President and CEO of Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners, Mr. Lynch assumes primary responsibility for firm management and project coordination, with a commitment to developing a quality product and superior service. That commitment has produced distinctive urban mixed-use projects for investors and a distinguished list of public, private and non-profit clients. Mr. Lynch has over twenty years’ experience in public and private real estate as an investor and advisor, including projects in Silicon Valley, CA and Washington, DC. He founded Jair Lynch in 1998 and has completed more than 65 projects totaling almost 4.3 million square feet of development in DC, with an additional 1.7 million square feet in his development pipeline. He is a driving force for urban regeneration, working to create walkable urban places to empower people, develop place and create prosperity. Jair grew up in Washington, DC and attended Sidwell Friends where he was an excellent student and became a world class gymnast. He subsequently attended Stanford University and became Captain of their Gymnastics team. While there he competed in the 1992 Olympic Games. After graduation from Stanford he joined Silicon Graphics in their real estate department and trained for the 1996 Olympics where he earned a Silver Medal in the parallel bars event. He subsequently returned to Washington DC to begin his company. Show Notes Jair Lynch Company- Less than 10MM s.f., so he is involved with portfolio often, but most of his time is with strategic planning. (3:20)Has CEO perspective now (4:40)Pandemic influences on business- Shaken everyone to their core (5:30)Affected people firstTeam has been resilient enough to execute on plans from 2019Able to keep all projects moving forward and accelerate business Origins Parents are immigrants and met at Johns Hopkins Center of International Studies in an academic environment (7:30)Father is a Professor at Howard UniversityMother is an academic and with the Organization of American States)Grew up in Washington DC and parents opened him up to museums (8:50)U Street history3 Levels- Local, Federal and International perspectives of Washington DC (10:30) Education and Athletic Career Sidwell Friends– Value structure aligned with parents (12:00)Connections gained helped even beyond high school as an alumnusIt shaped his world view (13:10)Gymnastics careerYMCA was origin of sports (13:40)He was always there and most interested in gymnastics consistently (14:15)StanfordAs a gymnastics star, he had only a few choices and Stanford was his best choice and was recruiting from the East Coast (16:00)National Champion- Tim Ryan was attractive (17:15)Only West Coast and Big Ten were choicesGrounding leadership skills (18:30)Need to work hard both athletically and academically (19:00)Rules Committees (19:30)Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity were ranking variables (20:00)His academics were “associated” with his athletic performance (21:30)Captain of Gymnastics teamH
Today on the show: A South African take on the South African coronavirus variant. The pandemic, Native American elders, and cultural loss. Biden wants to “Buy American” again. Psychiatrists apologize for racism. And a Black History Month remembrance of U Street, D.C.'s Black Broadway. All that, and more!
Back from a 6 month hiatus , during this episode Obi and his friends discuss the gradual closing of different bars on u-street and whose off limits to the bros.IGs:@OhhnahObi@theshimgawd@myniggamarc
On this episode we catch up with our longtime friend Gabe who is originally from Dallas but has been residing in DC for the past 4 years. We also review the 2 Chainz and Rick Ross Verzuz battle in real time. Side note, we are now streaming our podcast live on Twitch so everyone please subscribe and keep a sharp eye as we firm up the details as to which days we are going to go live. Call the hotline and leave us a message or connect 214-744-3601 Make sure you check out the links below and tell a friend about the podcast! Got a question for us? Call our voicemail (214) 744-3601 or send us a text. Visit puttingpeopleongame.com Cash App: $ppogpodcast or Donate Subscribe to PPOGPOD channel ► LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE ► WATCH MORE: Youtube ► WATCH: Twitch ► SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to full episode on Apple Podcast ► SUBSCRIBE and LISTEN to full episode on Spotify ► FOLLOW PPOGPOD on Instagram ► FOLLOW PPOGPOD Twitter
This podcast is taking a break from music discovery. In the introduction, Ramsey explains how the music industry hasn't taken a stance when it comes to Black Lives. The media doesn't convey stories that aren't something that can easily be sensationalized. Unless the story has cursing, crying, or crime, it usually won't be heard or seen. That is what this mini-series is about. These are our stories. Part one features Scott Stewart, a New Jersey native who's currently living in our nation's capital. He tells his story of peaceful protest from U Street down to Pennslyvania Avenue. His perspective is interesting and needs to be heard. I also want to highlight a DJ Mix by my brother DJ Legend that's live on Mixcloud now. In collaboration with WhatsTheMovement.net and Real Talk Session Series, we present to you a variety of tracks for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asidebsidepodcast/support
durée : 00:25:10 - L'Amérique s'embrase - La mort de George Floyd le 25 mai dernier a embrasé l'Amérique, avec des manifestations dans chacun des cinquante États, des émeutes aussi, et une trentaine de villes placées en couvre-feu, dont la capitale fédérale Washington. Les correspondants de nos cinq radios vous font vivre cette explosion sociale de l'intérieur, de DC à Minneapolis. Et pour enregistrer ce dix-septième épisode, ils se sont donné rendez-vous chez Ben's Chili Bowl. Encore une fois ! D'abord parce que les hot-dogs y sont délicieux, ensuite parce que, dans la capitale américaine, c'est un haut lieu de la communauté noire. Et l'un des rares restaurants de U Street à ne pas avoir brûlé pendant les émeutes de 1968, après la mort de Martin Luther King.
As-Salaam Alaikum Everybody!!! Welcome to the Young & Muslim with hosts, Jibreel Salaam & Mohamed Hassan!!! We have such an exciting episode today. We sat down with the beautiful soul herself. Ms. Virginia Ali. The Co-founder of Ben's Chili Bowl. Yes, we are talking about one of the historical sites of Washing ton DC with some good old Chili Burgers & fries! Ms. Ali has been in business and serving the community for over 62 years when her and her husband started the business with $5,000. Since then, her and her family have over 5 locations and expanding mashallah! She talks about how islam has influenced her life by treating people the way she would want to. She believed in servicing everybody. No matter who you were or what you believed in. She wanted to make you felt welcomed into her restaurant & best believe we felt great when visiting the restaurant. We actually recorded this episode inside Bens' Chili bowl in DC haha. The legacy of Ben's Chili bowl is impeccable! When hey first opened on 1213 U St NW, Washington, DC 20009, it was 1958. They have weathered the storm! When a time when black businesses were flourishing in the Nations capital. Black Broadway she called it! A black renaissance that served as a prominent symbol of black culture. Especially during a time when it was tough. During the height of Jim Crow, than not long after the good times of black businesses, education, medicine, literary and performing arts professionals. ,Things changed. Black Broadway would experience a horrid time. Martin Luther King was assassinated. The people were devastated. Didn't take too long after that Riots and reck came about the streets as people were furious. Business were getting destroyed. Cars getting vandalized. Ben Ali & his wife Ms. Virginia had to make a decision on the future of their business and life. They decided to push through and have faith in their community. So because of the greta inviting culture, they were a safe space during a a hard time. They would have police officers, firefighters, and rioters all eating a burger together. Ben's Chili Bowl was a safe space. Everybody just agreed nothing was going to act up. It was a place for conversation and a bowl of awesome chili. Not too long after that hardship. They were hit with another. Crack, Cocaine, & heroin took many lives & opportunities. The district was hit hard & people were getting locked up and lives would be spent in jail. Seeing this around them, Ms. Virginia & her husband Ben Ali would still not give up to their commitment for their people. Sub'hannalh, Ben's CHili bowl served & stood strong with the community! Because of their brave efforts and faith, they were able to see the community turn back around. Only 3 business in the U Street community survived the drug epidemic, riot, and vandelims era. They were all family business that are still operating now. So because of the responsibility they had to take care of the people, when things turn around the people took care of them. They have visitors from All over the globe now and celebrities who know about the rich history of Ben's Chili bowl and the importance it has on the nations capital. Especially during the Civil rights era & integration. Now the Chili Bowl is a top destination to visit when visiting DC. Right at the top of the list with the Washington memorial & Whitehouse. People as the likes of Chris Tucker, Anthony Bourdain, Dre. Dre & Obama have been to Ben's Chili bowl and has enjoyed the great the food! When you visit Ms. Virginia, (yes she still works), you can see the many familiar faces who are framed throughout the HQ location in 1213 U Street gives which gives the ambiance excellence & friendships like no other. It's a must go to as they serve a great chili, burger, and hotdog options! This was a special episode for Black History. Hope you enjoyed this show as much as we did recording it! Please support Ben's Chili Bowl & their establishment by visiting https://benschilibowl.com/.
Welcome to the Elevator World News Podcast. Today’s podcast news podcast is sponsored by elevatorbooks.com: www.elevatorbooks.com WMATA COMPLETES US$176-MILLION ESCALATOR OVERHAUL The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has announced the completion of a US$176-million, multiyear escalator overhaul that included 145 new units, The Washington Post is among news outlets to report. The last escalator replaced in the project was at Court House Station earlier this month, marking a milestone for a journey that began after an escalator malfunction at L'Enfant Plaza injured six people nine years ago. In addition to 145 new escalators, 153 units received new motors, steps, handrails, safety devices and electrical systems. WMATA has also been installing canopies over station entrances where escalators are exposed to the elements. Eight have been installed, and six more are planned at Smithsonian, Judiciary Square, Archives, U Street and Arlington Cemetery. Image credit: courtesy of WMATA To read the full transcript of today's podcast, visit: elevatorworld.com/news Subscribe to the Podcast: iTunes │ Google Play | SoundCloud │ Stitcher │ TuneIn
3 Curls, 1 Kink. Topics: Howard Homecoming Weekend, U Street, The N-Word, Wale – “Wow, That's Crazy” (Review), Top 10 Albums of 2019, Joker SPOILERS (55:45-1:01:20) and more. Enjoy. Follow us on Twitter at: @ThePortReports Don (@CoachTheDon) Emeka (@HolaEZITO) Mike (@ZenniMike) Alyvia (@Lyvia_) Guest: Theo (@Scoulios) Outro Song: IDK – “Alone”
Will testimony by Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, drive a stake into the heart of Russiagate? Nation writer Aaron Mate says don't bet on it. And at protests across the U.S. and world, thousands gather to say no war, no sanctions no coup in Venezuela." Plus Headlines on Jayapal's Medicare for All bill in the House of Representatives. And More... HEADLINES: Michael Cohens testimony debunks Russiagate-Medicare For All Act of 2019 is Introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal.-Climate activists Force McConnell to Delay Vote on Green New Deal.- Senate Republicans confirmed ex-coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.- Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act.- Michele Roberts, On the Grounds Environmental Justice Producer, testified before the House Appropriations Committee, to advocate for communities that suffer from industrial pollution and other hazards. - thousands of migrant children suffered sexual abuse while in custody of the U.S. government.- A Meeting of DCs Afro-Latino community-A New Busboys and Poets Opens in Anacostia on March 6-DC Premiere of film Cubanas, Mujeres en Revolucin, or Cubanas: Women in Revolution, a documentary by Maria Torrellas. Thats Thursday, March 7th, 6:30 PM " 9:00 PM at the True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street in Northwest DC. -Gerald Horne on Venezuela, India and Pakistan, North Korea and Russia. If you enjoy our grassroots news show, which we provide free online, on podcast and on Pacifica stations and affiliates, please click here or click on the Patreon tab on this website to subscribe for as little as $3 a month. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people's voices on the air, and by support from our listeners. In this new era of fake corporate news, we have to be and support our own media! Thank you! Subscribe on PatreonLike us on Facebook!Follow us on Twitter!
A broadcast of the Director's Salon of "From U Street to the Cotton Club" - performances from the production and a community conversation on the genesis of the work and the place of art in a quickly gentrifying community.
A brief discussion of the issues in the In Series' collective mind at present, and a look ahead at "From U Street to the Cotton", with an introduction and sneak peek into all that's planned for it.
In Episode 002 of the Origin Stories: A Podcast About Politics and People, longtime talk radio producer Brent Jabbour speaks with former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele about growing up in Washington D.C (and spending time in the south) during the civil rights era. He also talks about his time in seminary school and his transition into politics. Subscribe to the podcast onItunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker, TuneIN, or wherever you consume Podcasts. Again, if you like the project share it with your friends, follow me on Twitter @BrentJabbour and/or like the page on Facebook. Transcript: (Intro) Brent Jabbour: This is episode two of Origin Stories: A Podcast about Politics and People. My name is Brent Jabbour your gracious host, I guess if that is what you want to call me. Today we are going to have a conversation with former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele. Now, the reason I chose Michael Steele, is because, in the lead up to President Trump being elected, he was very very critical of the man. And, I thought made him reasonable guy. It made him a guy who didn't necessarily walk the party line to get ahead, to get that Supreme Court seat, which we actually talk about. But, also, when I was doing research into him, I found him fascinating. He went to seminary school, he was planning to become a Catholic Priest. He kind of fell into the world of politics. Also, we spoke about Civil Rights and racism in America. What it was like growing up in Washington D.C. during the 1968 riots. He lived not too far away from U Street in Washington D.C. where much of it was burned after Dr. King was shot and killed. So, it was a really, really, interesting conversation. He was running a little late so I had a lot of time to think about things and prepare for that particular conversation. I prepare, but a lot of times I just want to have a flowing conversation. I just want to speak with people. So I don't want it to feel like an interview with a bunch of prepared questions. It's more so a conversation about where that person came from and how they came to be, so we can all relate to them. There is a little bit of a funny scenario that happened. As I do this, I don't actually have a location. I don't have a studio or anything. So, generally what I will do is pack up my bag full of gear and I will take it to the office of the person I am interviewing. Now, Michael works remotely very often. Kind of here, there, and everywhere. And, so while I was arranging it, and I really wanted to get him in, he could do it while he was in Bowie, MD, which I believe is also where he lives. But, since I didn't have a space to do it, I had to essentially figure something out. So, what I did is, I rented a hotel room, and I didn't want the full rate, because I guess I was just being cheap. So, I actually made an arrangement where I came in in the morning and rented a room by the hour. And, as an anxiety-ridden young man I kept thinking the whole time, people are going to think something is going on. There is a certain connotation about a man who rents a hotel room by the hour first thing in the morning. But, nobody really thinks those things, it's just all in my head. It's irrational anxiety as I like to call it. Once Michael Steele came in, it was just a pleasure to talk to him. He had kind of a family deal going on so he tried to make it quick, but I held him for about an hour. And, I think we had a really, really good conversation. He had similar experiences to me because I grew up going to an all-boys Catholic High School as did he. So we kind of have these mutual situations that went on in our lives. So, I think you will really, really enjoy this. Thank you so much for listening to the previous two episodes. If you really like it, go ahead and share it with your friends. Because I would love everybody to get in on these conversations. And thanks for following me on Twitter @BrentJabbour and remember to subscribe on iTunes so it gets delivered right to your phone every Thursday when we release new episodes. So, here it is Episode number two, Michael Steele, Former Republican National Committee Chair, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Here we go: (Music) Brent: So, you brought up family to start and I won't get into depth into that portion of the conversation. You grew up in D.C. correct? In Petworth? And one of the things I realized is you would be have been nine-ten years old during the riots of 68... Michael Steele: The 68 riots, I turned ten that October. Yeah. Brent: And what was that like. Were you cognizant of what was going on at the time? Michael: Yeah. Very much so. In fact, that April, when Dr. King was killed, my mother and I were in downtown DC. We had gone to Julius Lanzburg which was a big department store, a furniture store at the time. And we were on our way back up Georgia Avenue. And, someone jumped on the bus and yelled: "They killed King!" And there was a huge gasp on the bus and it was the weirdest thing because for the rest of the ride home it was dead silent. I mean, buses are usually quiet, but you hear some little chatter here and there. But you could hear a pin drop on this bus. And, It was one of those moments when we got home, and my mother was very upset, and sort of explaining what had happened. My dad comes in, having navigated his way uptown and actually came through areas where they had already started to burn buildings and started to turn over cars and he was very bothered and said: "Folks out here are crazy. They're burning up everything." But, it was really at that moment that you began to understand the impact, that King had had. My mother referred to him as a friend of the family. And so, her explanation to me was that a friend of the family has died. So, that put into context for me what Dr. King meant, not just to the black community at large, but specifically to my narrow slice of it, ya know, my family. So, it was a very impactful day. Brent: Just so I can clear everything up, so I have the full Michael Steele story. You were adopted correct? Michael: I was adopted yes. My sister and I adopted. Brent: And I imagine (by) an African American family based on the reaction (to King)? Michael: There weren't too many white folks adopting black kids back in the day. Brent: It's still D.C. Michael: They were progressive, they weren't that progressive. Brent: When you are in school and everything at that time, are you learning about Dr. King? Did you already know who he is? Michael: No, not really. Dr. King was not on the curricular because it was a real-time experience. Today, he is in the history books. He's an entire class in some courses. Back then, a lot of people forget, Dr. King was anathema to a lot of folks. A lot of folks were not appreciative of the marches and sit-ins and his approach. There was a reason why he wrote the letter to the pastors from the Birmingham jail. Because those pastors were ticked off at him and he wanted to clarify for them that they were the ones who were standing on the wrong side of history. So, that gives you some understanding and appreciation. The same with these towering figures of the day. Malcolm X who was another one who I would grow to understand and appreciate and really get his philosophy. These were, back then, the way we look at political and activist figures today. They're an annoyance. They're loud. They're taking up time on my news. And so, you had that perspective, that tension, that pull and push by what was going on at the time. And I think for a lot of people, particularly for young folks like myself. We were much more concerned about watching Batman, as opposed to paying attention to the politics of the day. Brent: And, did you start to learn and understand the Civil Rights movement after that day. Michael: Well yeah, well again, I'm ten years old. So, from an academic perspective, the answer is no because there really was no context to that until I got into high school. That was a short three or four years later, but still, it wasn't a real-time experience where you would sit down and say, ok, this makes sense. Where a lot of that education would come would be from my parents in their limited way. They weren't towers of political activism or journalism. They weren't writing the narrative. Or even following the narrative that way. But they did put it in the context of what it meant to be a black person in Washington D.C. in the 1960s. It did put it in the context of being a black family from the south. My mother is from Orangeburg. So, we would spend our summers in Orangeburg. I remember even going visiting my great aunt in 1982. And taking her to work, because she worked at a country club. And taking her to work, and I dropped her off at the front. And she said: "Baby, I can't go in the front door." I was like "Why not?" And she pointed to the top of the mantle, and it said: "For Whites Only." This is 1982, they are still displaying the sign. It was family that contextualized the racism and challenges that black folks had to deal with every single day. It wasn't something that you got in a classroom setting. It wasn't something you got in the workplace. It wasn't something you got on the playground. It was really that learning and understanding came from how your family presented that narrative to you. Brent: And, now you've become, a spokesperson, a public figure at this point. And when you are in High School. You're getting into high school, maybe you are 16 years old, and this is in the 1970s. And there is still a long way to go. There is still a lot of racism. And D.C. is probably one of the most African American cities at the time. Do you start to get involved then? Do you start to speak up? Michael: No. No. I was not an activist type. I have never been an activist type. As pro-life as I am, I've only been to one pro-life March and that was by accident. And it's not because I don't support the cause, that's just not my thing. That's not how I express my activism. I'd rather personalize it so you pay attention. I don't want to necessarily get lost in the groupthink. I want you to understand where I'm coming from. For me... I went to a Catholic high school. Archbishop Carroll High School. It was a place where a lot of the... It was an all-boys Catholic high school. So it was a place where a lot of the children, the sons, of political figures, they sent their kids there. So, I had this wonderful cross-current of class, race, as well as other intangibles that you kind of find in a place like that at that time. And Carroll was unique in that it was, they had achieved that balance between black and white. So, it was fifty percent black, fifty percent white school. And you had an opportunity to interact with kids from the suburbs. I was a city kid. So, we had a very different view of the boys from Bowie. So, it was a lot of that. It was the experiential, it was the in the moment for me that kind of taught me how to best do and be and exist. And from that learn how to express my views. So, being surrounded by these kids, and getting to know their parents. I took a liking to politics. And, really thought about doing that at some time. But, my core was focused on becoming a priest. So, while the politics was fun, my calling was to be a priest in the Catholic church. So my thinking was geared toward that. And I would later move into that. Brent: It's weird because I have a similar experience, although not wanting to become a priest. But, I went to an all boys Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio. But, unfortunately, that made it more segregated. Because it's a city of 20 percent African American. I grew up, my stepfather is black, so I had been used to that. By the way that is one of the hardest things to tell people. Because I, as a liberal, semi-social justice warrior type person, I don't ever want anyone to think that I'm just telling you I know black folks. I don't want that. But I got lucky in the way to have those experiences, so I have family that is black. But in my high school, because it is a private Catholic High School, and even went to a private Catholic Grade School, but that was coed. There were 4-5 black kids in our school. It was mostly upper-Middle class kids, some very wealthy, and I think a lot of the black kids that was, unfortunately, just checking a couple of boxes. And, also at the same time, they were helping the community. And, of course, the school was not in the best neighborhood. It was by the University, but 2-3 blocks away from the most dangerous parts of Toledo Ohio. And, so it was one of those things, where I felt like, I wish I had the opportunity to go to a public school. Michael: Well, the experiences are there. But even in that limited space, what you had, was the experience of home. And that contrasted with 3 or 4 black students who went to your school. It still contrasted with the majority of the experiences you would have at the school because, on any given day, your encounter with those 4 black individuals was probably very limited, unless you became close friends with 1 or 2 of them. Outside of that, and I always believe this, because, from my own experience, home life is outcome determinative. So, I know people who have had very limited exposure to African Americans but have a heightened sensitivity and understanding and appreciation of the black community in a very respectful way. Not in a condescending, oh let us help you poor thing, kind of way. And that is because of how they were raised. They were raised with the sensitivity of understanding that that community and our community, while they look different, we are the same because we are Americans because we live in this area, you find all of these reasons to connect to that community. And, I'll give you a good example of what I mean by the outcome determinative nature of those personal experiences. I had a friend of mine, this was in the early 1990s, she was in Dupont Circle here in D.C. with her little boy. She is African American. He is African American. And he was playing. So, this other little boy, as boys tend to do, came up and started playing with him. and he was a white kid, and they were just playing and having a good time. Well, this white kid's mother comes over and snatches up her son. And told her son: "what did I tell you about playing with them?" Now, this is the 1990s. This is a young mother. This is not a woman who is "grandma." This is someone who is in their late 20s, maybe early 30s, who is clearly instilling in her child racism. Looking at someone who is not white as other. And that is going to have an outcome-determinative effect on this kids expression and appreciation and view of black people. Now, the long story short, my friend who heard this exchange, went up to this woman, picked up her son, and proceeded to smack the crap out of the mother. And said: "How dare you teach your child to be a racist." And walked away. She literally smacked her. But, that's my friend. I can understand. If you knew her, you would say: "Yeah, I see that." So, when you take that experience in 1992, and you relate it back to King's death in 1968, you can see how even though it's a connection, that all of those steps of achievement in between that there are gaps. There are gaps. There are gaps that come from ignorance. There are gaps that come from a sense of disconnection. There are gaps that come because you come from a line of racists. I mean, there are all these things that still push forward this negative narrative. So the family piece, for me, is a critical part to beginning to address a lot of these issues around race. Because race is not an innate experience, it is a learned one. Brent: Right, and I think that is part of the reason I started this project. A lot of it has to do with the idea that... I am talking to young people, my friends, they are in their 30s and in their late 20s, and they have kind of shut themselves down now. Because, they see somebody with that learned racism, with that learned take on whatever issue we face today, and they say: "I don't want to talk to that person. I can't relate to that person, I don't want to be around that person." Okay, I can not relate to a lot of people, but number one, we all have shared human experiences. But, also, you can't... Michael: You can't walk away from that. They have to... Look, the only way you are going to start to change that cycle is to engage. Imagine if King decided: You know what? I just can't relate to Boss Hogg, I can't relate to what's happening in Mississippi, or what's happening in Arkansas, what's happening in places like... You know, everyone thinks about the south, but the greatest experiences of racism I have had have been in the north. Brent: You can actually look at cities like Boston. I mean Boston is probably the most racist city in... I don't want to crap on Boston, but the fact is... Michael: Their history is more profound than... One of the things I learned growing up, spending a lot of time... Again, I grew up in the south, I grew up in D.C. D.C. is a southern jurisdiction. It's below the Mason Dixon Line. But, I spent a lot of time in my parents' backyard in South Carolina and in Virginia. The one thing you could always appreciate is they just let you know right out front: "Naw, I'm not feeling you." And in the north, people put their arms around you, they pretend, then they do all those other things that aren't so Christian. Brent: I think the point that I was trying to make is: You have to understand these peoples' experiences to understand why they got there. And as you said, when it comes to racism, that poor white kid... Well hopefully, there are two scenarios that could come out of it. One, he is going to continue to be racist because his mom is going to continue to reinforce that. Plus, to be fair, he also saw a black woman slap his mother, with a being a young boy not having any context to understand why. Michael: Well yeah, I hadn't thought about that side of it, but yea. Brent: But, you are also going to have the possibility where she learned a lesson that day. Or, maybe he learned that lesson to say that these people aren't so different and that what she was saying was wrong. That's hard because it is hard to look at your mom and at 5 years old say: "Oh, she's wrong." In something that is a big grand scheme of things understanding. So, that was really, almost the full reason why we are doing this. Why are there people who are like this? Well, they grew up that way. They learned bad habits. Whether that's true or not, you get to decide that yourself. So, Michael, you said you wanted to be a priest. I was also going to bring this up, when I was in high school I wanted to be the Pope. However, I didn't want to be a priest. There were loopholes. Michael: Yeah, you can be pope without being a priest. But you gotta have connections to do that. Brent: But, you went to school to become a priest, correct? Michael: Yeah, I joined, after graduating from Johns Hopkins, I entered the Augustinian Seminary at Villanova. And, I started the journey of discernment and expression of vocation, which was probably the most profoundly important thing I have ever done. And I would highly recommend it to anyone. Seriously, because what it did, was it taught me, and I was in for about 2 and a half years, it taught me the limits of my own understanding. It taught me the unrelenting love that God has for us. In our most banal, gross, just total craziness, God still says: "Lord I love you. Yeah, I love you, baby. Come on, you'll work through it, I love you." So, that is a very powerful moment of understanding. Then, the next level of that is turning that into an expression of understanding towards others. So, I look at people very differently. I see people very differently. I hear them very differently than I did before. It's because, in everyone's voice, you can hear pain, joy, fear, resentment, anxiety, all of these things we try to mask. And, it's one of the beautiful parts of vocation, for those who are called to that understanding, and that expression is that one of the gifts, one of the graces you receive, I believe, and it makes sense, that your senses are heightened. Think about a priest in a confessional for 5 hours listening to folks come in and just unload all kinds of humanity on them. Think about the grace it takes to sit there and for every one of those persons, to individualize that moment. We make jokes about, yes, go say three Hail Marys and an Our Father and that's the joke. But that is a very individualized moment. Those three Hail Marys and Our Father are specific to that person. So, that priest has to have an understanding of what that person is saying. He has to be able to listen in a way that God requires him to listen. That for me was just a wonderful wonderful time. In fact, it has defined most of what I have done publicly since. I bring that aspect of my seminary life into my expression as RNC Chairman, so that is very high profile, political. Or, as Lieutenant Governor, an elected official, responsible for service to the people of the state of Maryland. And as a husband, as a father, you try to figure out ways in which you do that. And my mother summed it up for me. And again, I believe in arcs, and how one moment in time connects to another moment in time. So as a young boy, my mother always used to tell me: "You need to shut up and listen." You need to shut up and listen. So, I understood as a young adult, connecting that moment in time from when I was a young kid to this moment in time as a Seminarian and future moments in time as an elected official, as a political leader that the core of that is to shut up and listen. Brent: That is something so hard, especially for my generation, for this rapid information culture. Because, you get stuck in this position, where you are having a conversation, like you and I are, and you get to this position you said something five minutes ago that I wanted to respond to. And, all I'm doing now is thinking about what I'm going to say. I'm better than that because I do this... But it happens to a lot of people. There are a lot of times where I am having a conversation with somebody about something very important and I can tell that they are not listening to me, instead, they are just waiting to talk again. I have the patience to deal with it, it's just what it is. I was going to bring up one more point about the Catholic upbringing. I'm no longer a practicing Catholic. Maybe an atheist, I'm not one hundred sure these days. Michael: Well, that's a leap. Brent: Well, that was a truncated version clearly. It wasn't... Michael: You woke up one morning, and: "I'm done with that." It's all good. God still loves you. Brent: I had a moment like you said the arcs when I was in high school. I think we were on a retreat. And, I was doing a confessional style thing with a priest. and I was just talking to him about something, and I was talking about my faith. Not that at that time, I was still full faith, but I didn't know that I loved the Catholic church but I was at that point. I asked him about something personal to me, I think my mother, and she was divorced and remarried. And at the time when that happened, she was divorced in the mid-eighties, the church was still much in the camp of... Michael: And they are still there. This Pope is pulling the church in a different direction on this issue of divorce. And there are a lot of folks inside the church who are very troubled by that. And I know such rules seem arbitrary and not really fixed to anything. There are Gospel underpinnings that support this idea of the indissolubility of marriage. But, you do then have to... Again, with the arc... Put it up against situations. Because life at the end of the day is situational. So, I remember asking a priest friend of mine as I was going through my processes and trying to contextualize and understand. So, if a woman is in a marriage in which she is beaten every day. Should she stay married to that individual? Or should she divorce? Now the accepted answer is she stays married, she just separates from that individual. She doesn't stay in the house where she is beaten every day. But, she is still married. So, then the next question logically goes: OK so two years later she's now living apart from her husband so she is now "estranged" they're separated. So, she is now in this limbo. She wants to move on with her life. Yet, she is tied by this marriage to an individual that if she goes back to will resume beating her. But, she can't move forward and find someone who will love her and do all the things that are set forth in the vowes: love, honor, yes and even obey on both the man and the woman's part. So what does she do? He didn't have an answer for that. And that's the moment we are now in the church. Where Pope Francis is Divining not defining but Divining an answer. Because he understands the scriptural context. And people relate back to the marriage at Cana they find all these connections. He's also got to make it relevant to what people are actually experiencing today because you don't want through church dogma and so forth to alienate people from God. So it's a very interesting track and it's one of those things that I think a lot of people are willing to jump to particular conclusions. And the one thing, having certainly been inside the church, you come to understand there is a reason it has been around for 2000 years. It's nothing if not patient. Brent: And I think, I was what I was going to say, he eventually said, some things are some things and some... He didn't really have an answer. But it helped me develop that pragmatic view that I kind of realize this man who is a priest. He was saying: "Well, There are no absolutes." Things can change... Michael: Well, there are absolutes. We have ten absolutes by God himself. We call them the Ten Commandments. And then everything else after that is not up for grabs, but... in other words. God has given us what he wants and what his expectations are of these frail things he calls humans. And he has done it in a way in which he fully respects the one gift he's given us. Which when you stop and think about the wisdom of God, you would say why'd he do that. This Idea of free will. And he says: "OK, you have free will but here are ten things I need you to do." And just ask yourselves: How hard are they? And yet, every day we find a way to break one or two of them. And, it speaks to why God loving us, is the core piece because it is the only way it works. Because otherwise, he would be too pissed off at us. Brent: When it comes to the whole "I may be an atheist" conversation. By the way my mother, I mentioned it to her one time she... I was like, I'm 34 years old, I'm allowed to have a crisis of faith every now and again. Michael: Yeah... Not in front of your mother. Brent: I think it was a lot of, I understand exactly what you are saying when you say God himself handed these ten rules. Michael: Everything else is man made. Brent: But it's hard for me because I look at the nature of man. And you can look at the Catholic church, but you can look at any church, any organized religion as it is. It feels to me like so many of the rules, they have a reason for them. They made these rules because... A lot of that, let's look at procreation, that was all to grow the churches. Michael: Of course, you can't take away from the practical truth of why certain things came into being. Look, we all know, staying with the Catholic Church, we used to have a married priesthood. We had a married priesthood for about 400 years in the 2000 year history of the church. And the reason they stopped having a married priesthood is because when a priest would die, the property of that priest would go to family members and not the church. So they wanted to correct that. This is that greedy period in the Church's history. Where you had a lot of man interest as opposed to what is in the interest of God. And so, I understand that. Which is why some of these rules that we adhere to today, they don't make sense if you know the history. Because, you can't sit there and say, we have a celibate priesthood because Christ was celibate. Well, then how do you explain the 400 years when we didn't. Christ was still a celibate back in his days. I get that and understand it. But for me, the institution is a human institution and all that it means. But, the faith that is born out of that institution comes from God. And either you buy into that or you don't. And, a lot of times, I think what happens is we allow ourselves to be distracted by the clothes we wear or the buildings we're in. As opposed to what God has given us innately. Which is a love for him and a love for each other. And the rest of it... Look, if I'm alright by loving you, then it doesn't matter whether or not there is a structure in which I have to go and do that every week like a church. Or, any other type of behavioral restrictions, that should not, in an ideal world, interfere with that. But we know it does. Brent: Well, and that is what I was going to say. You say there are the Ten Commandments and everything else is man-made. And I will give you the pro-life argument because we don't need to argue it. But the fact is, you see many elected officials using specific lines in the bible to go against gay marriage. Michael: No elected official should ever use the Bible for anything other than Sunday school and church services. They need to... You live that out, you don't dictate it to others. So, if you are pro-life Catholic, like myself, then you live that out. I don't need to judge you because God has made it very clear he doesn't like it when we judge each other. That's not my job, that's his job. You can look at the Bible as a source for the theology, as a source for the tradition, capital T, and that's fine. You can accept that or not accept that. You can make the case or not make the case. I choose to look at Deuteronomy where you are very clearly commanded to choose life. And I use that as a way to underpin not just my support for the unborn but my opposition to the death penalty. Because I'm not empowered to distinguish between the life of a child and the life of an adult who happens to be in prison. The church now, with the Pope, is coming around to that latter position. The Pope having recently changed the church's teaching on the death penalty to make it consistent with the idea that we are pro-life. We want to support a culture of life, it doesn't take away from punishment. Yeah, you a bad boy, you are going to get punished. But, there are limits to that punishment. And I think for political leaders, and what we have seen since the 1980s and the rise of the moral majority. The inculcation of that into a political system, thereby weaponizing religion via politics is one of the signs of end times. That to me is one of those signs that you've turned a corner now where you are using religion... And I think this is why you find so many people turned off more and more by religion because it has become more and more of a political theatre in which I get to sit in judgment of your behavior and your thinking and your philosophy. As opposed to as a political actor being more concerned about your welfare and the fairness of the governmental system and all of the things political leaders should be concerned about. Brent: And I think, just to wrap on this religious discussion, although I could do this for hours, I just think, and I basically think what we're saying here is, just live your best life. When it comes to things like that... see, I think the death penalty and abortion are two very separate issues actually because the government is not saying that you should get an abortion or that you have to get an abortion. They are giving you your right to choose. You may disagree with that, that's perfectly fine, but you don't have to do it. Nobody is going to force that. The death penalty is something that is put down by the government. Michael: But it's still an option. You have options... it's not required. Brent: A government official, a judge, or whoever is doing the sentencing, makes that decision; who is technically a government official. Michael: I would argue that the government has already decided in the first instance by writing the law that allows it; so the government has made a decision. Now, has been supported by the people when they, if by referendum they support that, or by the courts in representing the judicial approach, but there is government action on both ends. So, it's just a matter of how you view that. The government passed a law, so it dictated the terms of engagement on that issue, on abortion. On the back end, again, the government is acted. Yes. You're talking about the action of committing the death penalty, but there was a law that was put in place to allow that action to occur just as there's a law in place, to allow the action of an abortion to take place. So, the government is, in both scenarios in my view, a main actor. That's fine. Which is why my core argument around both of these issues is communities need to decide for themselves. No federal government role is required here because you're going to find, as we have found, that not just on issues like abortion and the death penalty, but on a whole host of issues, gay marriage, and the like, most communities want to come to their own, and should be allowed to come to their own conclusion as to what best represents the values of this community. Now if you don't like those values, typically most people don't live in that community. They go someplace where those values do work and if they can't do that; we do live in a society in which we have this little thing called 'majority gets to.' You can go out there and make your case and if your case wins, great. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Brent: Michael, you're kind of telling me, 'if you don't like it, get the hell out.' Michael: No, I'm not telling you that. I'm not telling you that. I'm just... look, look. If you and I disagree on something, what do we do? How do we resolve that? So, a third person comes into this conversation. It's going to take one of two sides. So guess what? That third person, the one who is on the short end of that stick, has got to live with the decision of the other two. So, what do you do otherwise? At that point, I can either get up from the mic and leave the room or I get to say, 'okay, we can finish the conversation although I hate this decision.' That's how this is supposed to work. That applies to everything, not just the very sensitive topics of abortion and gay marriage and all that. That's how this is supposed to work. That's why we're a pluralistic society. Brent: You got into politics, I assume now, having spoken with you in the beginning here, because you got the interest in politics while you were in high school because you were friends with people, who I assume, were sons of politicians. You went to school to be a priest and then you said, 'you know, I think it's time to do some civic duty?' Michael: Yeah. I'm sort of the accidental elected official; accidental party official. I never set out to be county chairman, state chairman, national chairman. Never set out to be an elected official. I liked politics. I liked being engaged in politics, but I was still, even at that time, very much involved in my church. I was a Master of Ceremonies in my parish assisting the priest. I trained the altar servers in the parish. So, I was much more still focused on a lot of those things, but these opportunities kind of came up and I found myself saying, 'okay, yeah, I'll do that, sure.' I remember the first time I ran for office in 1998, for Comptroller. I wasn't thinking about becoming Comptroller of Maryland, but Ellen Sabre and her team came to me said, 'we'd like to have you on the ticket.' My background was as a corporate finance lawyer. Very familiar with tax law and all that good stuff; so it's not like I didn't have the cred to actually do the job, but it wasn't something that I was thinking about. 'Oh, yeah, I want to be an elected official.' For me at that time my expression of service was different. It manifested itself differently. My approach to these things is, you know, God finds a way to put in front you, people who he wants there for a reason; for a particular time and a particular purpose and he knows you don't necessarily see what he sees, but, hey, you know, do it. Now, again, free will. You know, you just say, 'no, I don't want to run,' but it did trigger in my brain another aspect of service. How do I carry out... because I think, for me, a lot of that after I left the Seminary, was how do I carry out this innate desire to serve people. I want to be as helpful as I can. I hate seeing people living in certain conditions in which I think are unnecessary, particularly given the vast amount of opportunities and wealth and things like that, that are available. Why are you somehow isolated from all of that. So, for me, this public service piece was that bridge to connect or to answer the question: Why are you isolated from all of these opportunities? Let's look at that and let's fix it. That really kind of motivated me. Brent: You mentioned being the RNC chair, the Maryland party chair and you were the first black... I'm going to say you're the first black conservative? Michael: Well, it's the first African American state chairman in the country. I was the first one on the Republican side and national chairman, was the second black, but the first in the Republican party, because Ron Brown was the first African American elected to a National party chair. It's pretty good company. Brent: Let's be honest here. You can see it right now with a lot of Trump supporters. Do you face a lot of racism as a... Michael: You didn't face it. You know its there. Look, not everyone's going to love you, and they love you for different reasons. Some people don't like you because you threaten their interests. Some people don't like you because of the color of your skin. You know, I had people say some very stupid things to me when I was chairman and you take it for what it is. You appreciate it for what it is. You know that it's going to be something that you've got to address, but here's the thing; a lot of people sort of think that this is the purvue of Republicans only. Trust me, it isn't. Democrats come off like this holier-than-thou, like there's not a racist bone in their body, you know. I'm like, you understand where the KKK came from. It's your roots. It's there. Everybody has some connection and it animates itself at some point in time and history. It just does, but that, for me at least, is not the main part of the story. The main part of the story is: how do you press through that? Now you can sit back and you can become a victim of it and just sort of cower in the corner or be mad and angry - or - you can confront it and just call it out for what it is when it is and press on to do what you need to get done. You can't let those things, and I use King as the example, you can't let them handicap you. Brent: Of course, I wasn't blaming all Republicans and the point I was making about, today that you see, is the refusal by this administration to fully say that the 'alt-right' or whatever they are, are bad people and we're giving them a voice. I think that's not just what's happening now because of the politics and things, I think it's the 24-hour news culture. They know that they can say something stupid and MS, CNN... all these people are going to put them on. They're going to give them a voice and I feel like they're such a small sect of America. Michael: But they're not. Let me address that. Let's understand how we are where we are. We're here because for good, bad, and I think largely for bad, the current President, then candidate, pricked open a scab and marinated that wound. It gave license to people to openly express what they secretly harbor and think and feel and he used their fear as a weapon against themselves. I think that when you have the situation with Charlotte, you have the policies that are expressed, the Muslim bans and things like that, that is as much against those communities as it is a clarion call to those underbelly feelings that people have about those communities, and now you can go out and you can say it because I'm standing here and I'm giving you the green light. That, to me, is a very dangerous space to be in. Brent: I agree with that and I think that that scab, the wound was initially opened, I mean not initially opened, but this recent wound was opened during the Obama administration and a lot of them were saying that under their breath. I feel like, people like John McCain and people like Mitt Romney, they didn't say those things, so those people didn't feel emboldened and like you said, this President did on the campaign trail. That's an issue. I brought up my iPad because I wanted to bring some facts in here just to put a wrap on the RNC issue. You raised $198 million during the 2010 congressional cycle when you were on 'fire Pelosi bandwagon. You won 63 House seats; biggest pick-up since 1938, where you took the House. They were the most successful elections on House races, over 600 seats, since 1928. Why weren't you reelected as the RNC chair? Michael: ...because no good deed goes unpunished. That's why. Brent: In my head, I had for a long time I had this thing where I was like, 'Michael Steele must have been a terrible RNC chair,' but that's not the case. Michael: That's the narrative though, so let me tell you what the backstory to that is. The back story is, when I was running for chairman, members from around the country, what we call the 168, they're comprised of the national committeeman and national committeewoman and the state chairman of each state and territory. The number comes to about 168. That's the composition of the RNC. You go and you campaign for the job and I think I'm the only chairman who was a county chairman, a state chairman, and an elected official at the time he became chairman and so a lot of the members of the committee knew me from back when I was a county chairman in the 1990s. They knew me when I was state chairman in the early 2000s before I got elected to Lieutenant Governor. So they knew that I'm a grassroots guy and they knew that I resented the way the RNC did business with them, with that State parties. They wanted a champion and this so much explains Donald Trump in that, they wanted someone who would come in and break up the cabal that had festered inside the RNC. The special contracts. The no-bid contracts. The cozy arrangements. The consultant class that had taken over the management of the building, the operation of the building. The dictates that said, alright, if you want money from the RNC you have got to take our vendors. You've got to use our vendors. Even though those vendors didn't have a damn clue about your state or your jurisdiction or your candidates, but you had to pay a premium in order for the RNC to do business with you. They wanted an end to that. I was the guy to do that because I was willing to go in and break those eggs and in the process of doing that, pissed off a lot of people. I got rid of the no-bid process. I canceled about $20 million worth of contracts when I came in the door. You know that's going to piss off a lot of people and it did, and so you started hearing, literally within the first 30 days. I think the first call for my being fired happened three weeks after I got on the job. How the hell does that happen? Well, it happens because you're in there, I fired the entire building when I came in. I said 'no' to a lot of contracts that were already supposed to be paid for. Now the election of 2008 is over. Campaign's over. Why do I have all these people working at the RNC and why am I still writing checks from a campaign that was over? That disrupted the process and I made a lot of enemies. I will admit, I probably could have been a little smarter in dealing with some of that, but there is this sense that being smarter may, may not necessarily be the best thing. Following your instincts and your gut and once you start down that road you just do. I mean, I totally get it, so you have this situation and RNC was a microcosm of what would play out six-years later in that the body wanted someone to come in and clean it up. Clean up the swamp. To drain the swamp inside the RNC. Oh, guess what? Six-years later that's now a national message that those members and their constituents, the voters and their respective states and jurisdictions are saying, we want someone to clean up the swamp. I can see that arc; that connection there. Brent: So, what you're telling me is, you were the proto Donald Trump. Michael: In a little sense, yeah. Without all the crazy, yeah. Look, I said to, I've known Donald Trump a while, and I said to him that I love that Maverick style. This idea of shaking up the system. I didn't have a problem with Donald Trump calling out NATO, alright, because it needed to be called out. It had become a moribund institution. You know, no one had paid attention to it in about seventy-years and so, yeah, let's reevaluate, not necessarily the relationship, which is where Trump went, but let's reevaluate how we're doing business with each other and whether or not this is... we're modernized, so we're all on the same page... I got that. It was the same principle I applied at the RNC. Going in and shaking up the institution from within, but see my goal was to expand the party, so we did a lot of things to... the way we were able to win and how we elected Hispanic governors and African American State Legislators and Judges on the Texas Supreme Court was expanding the breadth of the party, it's reach and it's conversation with communities that didn't look white and over 65. That was the strength. What we're seeing now is a contraction away from that and they're using that contraction as a strength, but I think it's a great weakness to its own detriment. Brent: I have an issue because I understand. I understand the NATO things, the UN things, a lot of the dumb shit that Trump says. I understand it, however, I don't understand how Republicans, voters, that is to say. I get the white working class of voters. I understand them thoroughly. They voted for Donald Trump because he doesn't talk too different than they do. He said he's going to do something for their jobs and frankly, you know what, my Stepdad, worked as a UAW worker who faced a lot of racism from stupid people over the years. So the fact is, is that that doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is men and women in your position who supported him. Who voted for him and they said, you know what, a Supreme Court seat is more important... Michael: That's politics. Brent: Right, I understand, but that's more important than being morally right? Michael: Look, I did not support the President's election in 2016 and I didn't for... along the moral grounds. The Access Hollywood tape, the whole thing, that is like... this is... there's more to the office than just putting a man or a woman in it. There's got to be something tethered to something that's morally sound, but you're talking about looking at the broad electorate. You have to ask yourself a question. If all of that is true and there is this, you know, there should be this distinction between your moral behavior and, a very clear distinction, that if you're morally off track, that that should be disqualifying, or whatever. Ask yourself then, why, after everything he's said and we know about Donald Trump and his relationship with women and the Access Hollywood tape, 52% of white educated women voted for him? He won the majority of the white female vote. He won 30% of the Hispanic vote after 'all Mexicans are rapists' and so forth. He won 10% of the Black vote. Remember, that was 0% at one point in the campaign. He grew it to 10% and the only thing he says is, 'what have you got to lose?' and all of a sudden all of those Black folks say, 'oh, okay.' What I tell people is, take the blinders off. Take the blinders of anger and just 'I hate Donald Trump' and all of that and try to understand the answer to the questions. Why these constituent groups voted for the man who is clearly antithetical to everything that they at least espouse to be about. When you begin to do that, then you begin to see America as it is because regardless of your station, regardless of your class, your race, there is a thread that he's able to pull on and he pulled on it well. Well enough to win a Presidency and folks need to fundamentally understand that because it says more about us then it does about Donald Trump. Brent: Absolutely and I've had the conversation a million times since the 2016 election with my progressive friends and I .... [interupted for time]... The reason I invited you here was because I thought you were as reasonable of a guy as you have been and it's been a great conversation and like I mentioned in my e-mail to you, I worked for Ed Schultz for about eight years and I remember seeing you on Bill Maher's show with him and you guys screamed at each other and it was such a great argument and you guys were having a good time and then the best part about it to me was you were willing to come on the Ed Show sometime the next week and you sat down with him and now you're an MSNBC contributor. So you can say you got my man Big Eddie to thank for that right? Michael: Yes, indeed. I loved Ed. He was a Maverick. He was a guy who pushed against convention and made the conversation real. He was not afraid to tell you what he thought; what he felt. That got him into trouble at times. I can identify with that. Those types of voices, you know, people like to try to put in a box and say, well he was this flaming Liberal or he was this flaming Progressive. Well, Ed was complicated. Ed was a lot of things. If you sat and talked to him you realized that he had some nice conservative positions as well. You understand his history, you know where he came from. That all makes sense, but what you can't lose sight of is that he was authentic and he was the same guy on TV as he was off camera. He was the same guy in the airport as he was in the studio and I think that that level of authenticity is what generated the audience that he had and I think that the kind of support, even when his time was up at MSNBC, that carried with him and stayed with him and that was reflected in his love for his family and the work that he did. So, yeah, I have a lot to thank Ed for. We had great conversations whenever I was on his program and we would go after it on that Liberal/Conservative thing, but it really wasn't about Liberal/Conservatives, it was really about having a conversation. Brent: That's why we're doing what we're doing today. I had a blast. I hope you had fun. Michael: It was a lot of fun and I do appreciate it, bro. Brent: Can we do this again? Michael: Absolutely. Anytime.
On this bonus episode, the 80z Babies discuss U Street and the greater District of Columbia - past, present, and future. #80zBabies
On May 12th, 2018, Washington DC rejoiced together in the name of funk, and it was good. The 5th Annual Funk Parade filled the historic U Street Corridor with music and maDCap was there to capture the energy. Our own David Ross was one of the festival organizers this year and Dan Bloom was lucky enough to run into him and snag a few minutes while walking together down U Street. You'll also hear impromptu appearances by our friends Amy Saidman of Story District and Philippa Hughes of Women of Uncertain Age and you'll hear music by Dave Rob, Batala Washington Women's Drum Corps, and Be'la Dona, the dynamo all-woman GoGo band. See Tony Lopez's (LopezArts) photos of the parade at our facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/FunkParade18madcap Thanks to David, Amy, Philippa, Justin, Chris, Tony, and all the organizers, artists, and sponsors who keep the funk alive. Funk Parade: http://funkparade.org Batalá Washington: http://batalawashington.com Amy at Story District: http://storydistrict.org Philippa's podcast: https://soundcloud.com/pink-line-project Be'la Dona Band: http://www.beladonaband.com/
On May 12th, 2018, Washington DC rejoiced together in the name of funk, and it was good. The 5th Annual Funk Parade filled the historic U Street Corridor with music and maDCap was there to capture the energy. Our own David Ross was one of the festival organizers this year and Dan Bloom was lucky enough to run into him and snag a few minutes while walking together down U Street. You'll also hear impromptu appearances by our friends Amy Saidman of Story District and Philippa Hughes of Women of Uncertain Age and you'll hear music by Dave Rob, Batala Washington Women's Drum Corps, and Be'la Dona, the dynamo all-woman GoGo band. See Tony Lopez's (LopezArts) photos of the parade at our facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/FunkParade18madcap Thanks to David, Amy, Philippa, Justin, Chris, Tony, and all the organizers, artists, and sponsors who keep the funk alive. Funk Parade: http://funkparade.org Batalá Washington: http://batalawashington.com Amy at Story District: http://storydistrict.org Philippa's podcast: https://soundcloud.com/pink-line-project Be'la Dona Band: http://www.beladonaband.com/
There were definitely a pressure cooker of events in this weeks news, good and bad! Twelve songs off the #1 album Invasion of Privacy and Bruno Mars collaboration "Finesse" currently hold spots on the Hot 100. This means Cardi passed Beyoncé for the most simultaneous songs on the tally by a solo female act. Drake holds the overall record with 24 entries, set in 2017. Cardi's got it on LOCK these days, congrats again! Kendrick Lamar has won a Pulitzer Prize for his album Damn. The award is given "for distinguished musical composition by an American." Kendrick's 2017 album becomes the first hip-hop record to win a Pulitzer Prize...DAMN! Talk about a pressure cooker! The pressure was on for Starbucks to do something in response to the incident last week where two Black patrons were asked to leave a Philadelphia location and were promptly arrested by police. With outrage and calls for boycotts high and low, the company will temporarily shut down 8.000 of its stores for racial bias training sessions nationwide. This has got to change FAST! Leave it to Beyoncé. The pop singer’s Coachella performance over the weekend has reportedly set a YouTube livestreaming record. Beyoncé's performance is set to generated 458,000 simultaneous viewers — the most ever for a single Coachella performance since YouTube began streaming the Indio, California festival in 2010. This is why she is and probably will be the Queen of entertainment...period. The pressure is surely also on DC cops! On Friday morning, on the steps of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced that D.C. police officers will be required to take a critical-race-theory program. The training will take a day and comprises three parts: “a three-hour lecture on black history, a guided tour through the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a lesson on U Street, where officers examine police brutality.” The segment topic, as always, was one to make you think a little harder. What to do if your sex drive is higher than his/hers? Let us know what you think?? Until next Wednesday...
We talk the difference between something being ethically/morally wrong vs. legally wrong. Plus you know we had to talk about Tyrone Hankerson aka The Wolf of U Street. Leave us a comment on I-TUNES and let us know what you think about the show!! Follow us on twitter @straightolc email us at straightolc@gmail.com Hit the Voicemail at 641-715-3900 Ext. 769558
This week's topics: Michael Rapaport Wolf of U Street at Howard U Fabulous & his supporters Vivica vs Kenya Blac Chyna Aaliya MAC Collection TV Recaps: RHOA RHOP Grownish Teyanna & Iman Follow: @wineoclockpod_cdm @woo_me_baby @the_problematic_fave Producer: @VineMeUp
Henry and Noah are back with a special episode involving the financial misconduct allegations at Howard University. They are joined by former HUSA President, Allyson Carpenter live from campus to talk about the ongoing protest and the student's demands. Henry and Noah breakdown the story focusing on the University's handling of the inforation.
Hosted by David and Nycci Nellis. Today's guests/topics include: * Mitch Berliner of Central Farm Markets and Meat Crafters; * Toki Underground is D.C.'s original ramen house, and one of the Washington's most popular. Olivier "Liv" Caillabet serves as general manager, and he's in to share the District's most awesome ramen; * Honeygrow is a Philly-born fast-casual concept featuring premium, wholesome made-to-order stir-fry, salads, and honeybar, all made from scratch and fully customizable. And, it's coming to Rockville! Culinary director chef David Katz is in with all the deets; * U Street's Service Bar is a fried chcken and artisanal cocktail bar. Glendon Hartley and Kevin Rogers are in to tell us all about it.
The US withdraws from the Paris accords. Spicer dodges questions on climate. CEOs are divided on advising Trump. And a new segment: "Too Stupid to be Congress." Recorded at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street, Jon is joined by CBS News White House reporter Jackie Alemany, Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, and Campaign Zero co-founder Brittney Packnett.
Carpe diem, baby. In part 3 of our 4-part miniseries on Storytelling, we go deep on the role the present in shaping our stories. We explore the power of being able to bring new awareness to what you see right now using the wise words of the late writer David Foster Wallace (this is water!). We also learn about how being really clear about what’s real in your present is key not just to telling the Story of You but to feeling sane in the process. Sharon also dishes on some of her favorite shopping destinations around DC. Oh and there are some crazy prancing deer that show up which lead Sharon to record the this episode in two-parts. Seriously? Seriously! Enjoy! I so loved that the recording of this show kicked off with me being surprised by seeing a doe and 3 fawns prance around the shallow waters of Lake Wallenpaupack. The fawns were living it up – jumping here, there and everywhere seemingly enjoying the splashing and fun of it as much as my own little toddlers are on this Labor Day weekend trip. In this episode, I shared a few of my favorite excerpts of a marvelous speech that I witnessed in 2005 back at my alma mater Kenyon College. (Oh boy, did I love my 3 years living on this hill surrounded by cornfields.) The speech, This is Water, was given by the sadly now diseased author David Foster Wallace. The opening vignette of the speech still blows my mind a bit: There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?” … The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. For those who are interested in seeing the full text of the speech, you can do so here. You can also purchase a beautiful little hardcover volume, which is a delight for any bibliophile, especially one in the middle of a life transition. It’s a book I find myself reaching for at not infrequent intervals. I wish I could personally transport you back to that sunny day in May in Gambier, Ohio to experience the speech yourself. In lieu of inventing time travel, I will share that you can listen the audio for yourself. The two key ideas I explore on the topic of The Present are: That it’s possible to see the water. We have the choice of consciousness and an ever expansive ability to grow the scope of what we see. This isn’t a yes or no – I did it or I didn’t do it – kind of choice. This is an active practice that we must choose (or not choose) every day. That cozying up to what’s real for you right now is critical not just to moving you to where you want to be, but to finding a sense of peace and sanity in the here and now. Curious to go deeper on the sufficiency (“I have enough”) vs. scarcity (“There’s not enough” or “I need more”) mindset that I reference in this show? Lynne Twist’s book Soul of Money is a great first stop. At the end of the podcast, I shared a beautiful, fully present experience I had had in the past week. Oddly – because I’m not much for shopping these days – this experience included my heading into and out of several spots in the U Street Corridor of NW, Washington, D.C. In case you are curious to check them out, they are: Fyubi Makeup and Brow Studio – I love this place. I head here every few months to have my brows shaped. The owner, Flami Garioni, is a true inspiration and I’m delighted to report that she’s agreed to be a guest on the podcast. Stay tuned! Good Wood – This shop has furnished a great deal of my living spaces over the years. Beautiful vintage/antique pieces. On this day I got some great end of summer steals, including a dress crafted by a design team that I adore, Osei Duro. Osei Duro is a small fashion house based in Los Angeles, CA and Accra, Ghana. Each piece is not only beautiful, but I always rest easy knowing that I can feel good about how it was created as well. Redeem – I popped into this clothing boutique and came across a pop up shop for Be Clean, which sells products for your body, mind, and home that are chemical-free and american-made. I’m obsessed with this lip stain that I got on this visit. It’s stellar and I can’t wait to learn more about Be Clean and it’s intriguing product lineup. I became interested in this wellness movement in make up and skin care when I stumbled across Follain in Boston on a visit there this summer. Sadly, I was pressed for time and so haven’t been able to explore there a ton…yet! (They also have a store in my native DC at Union Market.) Salt and Sundry – The final stop on my U Street crawl where I scored a sweet gift for my hubby and ran into an old friend and colleague who wonderfully and bizarrely thought I was in upstate NY running a training and development center and writing novels. Not yet, Paul. But maybe soon. =) Curious about the other episodes in this Storytelling Miniseries? Check out: Episode 9, The Introduction Episode 10, The Past Episode 12, The Future
Mary Collins and Stefan Woehlke founded Carpe DC Food Tours as a way to communicate the history and culture of Washington, DC through food. Focusing on the dynamic neighborhoods of Shaw and U Street, the start-up gives tourists and locals a deeper understanding of the streets and people that have made Washington, DC such a creative and fascinating place, rich with arts and literature and often obscured by the federal government's prominent influence. We sit down with Mary Collins and Stefan Woehlke and delve into some of these stories and get some mouth-watering food descriptions that will make you want to sign up for a food tour in DC or wherever you call home. Mary Collins and Stefan Woehlke started Carpe DC Food Tours after years of traveling the world, learning about communities through their food and heritage. When they're not touring or traveling, Stefan is working towards his phD in Archaeology at the University of Maryland, and Mary works for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Carpe DC Food Tours tells the stories of DC's iconic neighborhoods through food and they are the district's only one-for one food tour, which means for every ticket purchased they provide food for a day to someone in need through their partnership with Bread for the City.
The King of DC Media, William Powell, welcomes DirectorWriter Jason A. Ellis and the cast of his play "U-Street, the musical", which tackles homelessness. Bio for DirectorWriter Jason A. Ellis: Jason A. Ellis – (Talent Agent) is excited to once again perform on stage for his many supporters and expresses his heartfelt gratitude for that continued support today. He has choreographed for and performed in several productions at his Alfred Street Baptist Church, as well as with theater companies in the DMV area in productions such as A Soldier’s Play, Seven Guitars, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Company. His ADHD won’t allow him to sit still, so his hand can be found in many aspects of this production, which has been the same for all of the other productions that he writes, directs, produces, etc. A son of Jamaica, he lives by the optimistic slogan for the country’s flag, “hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth”.
JUNE 25, 2015 African Americans and the entire nation join in a collective wake after the assassination of nine African American church members by a White supremacist in Charleston. The immediate impact is that the racist symbol of the confederate flag is being brought down all over. But is that flag removal enough for justice? Voices from a massive street vigil held on June 19th on U Street in Washington, DC: Ledonna Sanders, Joyce Ladner, Kristina Alexis, Salim Adofo, Kymone Freeman and the Bishop Adrian Taylor of Shabbath Commandment Church. Headlines and more. https://onthegroundshow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/OTG-JUNE25-2015.mp3
Chatting up the folk who bring funk to U Street.
Chatting up the folk who bring funk to U Street.
The holiday season has kept Obbi and Chaide away from the podcast for a few weeks! It's okay though, we're back to talking about beer, videogames, and a bunch of stuff you'd rather have a real conversation with somebody else about.
On July 4th, we present a history lesson/jam session with A Tribe Called Red. Bear Witness, DJ NDN & DJ Shub are Indigenous producers who flipped traditional PowWow music with electronic sounds, creating a powerful style all their own. Dan & David caught up with ATCR on 14th & U Street in Washington DC before their show at Tropicalia. As is our style, this show is packed with music, but it's much more than a jukebox piece. Topics of discussion include the 1968 riots, Canada's Indigenous civil rights struggle and native lessons for achieving harmony with the earth. For a tour schedule and more information, visit http://ATribeCalledRed.com Find much more music on their soundcloud: @a-tribe-called-red http://twitter.com/atribecalledred | http://twitter.com/thebearwitness | http://twitter.com/djshub | http://twitter.com/deejayndn Special thanks to Guillaume ( http://twitter.com/valeoprod ) & DJ Budda Blaze ( http://twitter.com/DJBuddaBlaze )
On July 4th, we present a history lesson/jam session with A Tribe Called Red. Bear Witness, DJ NDN & DJ Shub are Indigenous producers who flipped traditional PowWow music with electronic sounds, creating a powerful style all their own. Dan & David caught up with ATCR on 14th & U Street in Washington DC before their show at Tropicalia. As is our style, this show is packed with music, but it's much more than a jukebox piece. Topics of discussion include the 1968 riots, Canada's Indigenous civil rights struggle and native lessons for achieving harmony with the earth. For a tour schedule and more information, visit http://ATribeCalledRed.com Find much more music on their soundcloud: @a-tribe-called-red http://twitter.com/atribecalledred | http://twitter.com/thebearwitness | http://twitter.com/djshub | http://twitter.com/deejayndn Special thanks to Guillaume ( http://twitter.com/valeoprod ) & DJ Budda Blaze ( http://twitter.com/DJBuddaBlaze )
On Saturday, May 3, history will be made yet again in the U Street neighborhood of Washington DC. A one-of-a kind participatory parade and music festival is descending on the funkiest part of our Nation's Capital, and we have local-boy-made-good Justin Rood to thank for it. Three dozen musical acts will fill eleven free performance areas during the day, leading up to a parade down V Street from 5-7 PM, and from 7 until late into the night, local music venues like U Street Music Hall, Tropicalia, DC9, Twins Jazz Club and Patty Boom Boom will offer free performances. maDCap took a drive with Justin Rood and heard all about the Funk Parade while driving along Saturday's route. Then, maDCap took Asheville, North Carolina by storm for the 2014 edition of Moogfest. We recorded interviews with @YACHT, The Egyptian Lover, @ZedsDead, Adeline Michèle of @Escort-Records and @Dan-Deacon. In this review show you'll hear about our exploits in Asheville and clips from the interviews we recorded. http://FunkParade.com http://twitter.com/madcapdc http://fb.com/thefunkparade -- http://moogfest.com http://twitter.com/moogfest http://fb.com/moogfest -- http://madcapdc.org http://twitter.com/madcapdc http://fb.com/madcapdc
On Saturday, May 3, history will be made yet again in the U Street neighborhood of Washington DC. A one-of-a kind participatory parade and music festival is descending on the funkiest part of our Nation's Capital, and we have local-boy-made-good Justin Rood to thank for it. Three dozen musical acts will fill eleven free performance areas during the day, leading up to a parade down V Street from 5-7 PM, and from 7 until late into the night, local music venues like U Street Music Hall, Tropicalia, DC9, Twins Jazz Club and Patty Boom Boom will offer free performances. maDCap took a drive with Justin Rood and heard all about the Funk Parade while driving along Saturday's route. Then, maDCap took Asheville, North Carolina by storm for the 2014 edition of Moogfest. We recorded interviews with @YACHT, The Egyptian Lover, @ZedsDead, Adeline Michèle of @Escort-Records and @Dan-Deacon. In this review show you'll hear about our exploits in Asheville and clips from the interviews we recorded. http://FunkParade.com http://twitter.com/madcapdc http://fb.com/thefunkparade -- http://moogfest.com http://twitter.com/moogfest http://fb.com/moogfest -- http://madcapdc.org http://twitter.com/madcapdc http://fb.com/madcapdc
Isaac M. Colon is a tattoo artist at DC Ink on U Street, near Ben's Chili Bowl. Through mutual friends, including my girlfriend, I was able to get in contact with Isaac, sit down and talk about growing up in DC, his love of art, poetry and music, and what inspires his renaissance life. We touch on his love of Joss Whedon and his hatred of the new Bond flick, Skyfall.In the second half of the show, I share my Favorite Things of 2012. That begins at 01:01:45.Music in this episode courtesy of Spazmadik:"Anthem For""Trix are for Kids""Meditation"
Every so often a light shines into the darkness of musical mediocrity and from the shadows emerges a fresh new artist with a gift that brings illumination and perspective to their listeners. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Colette Williams (affectionately known to her friends as Colie) took the stage after her junior high school teacher recognized her vocal talent. She encouraged Colie to attend Music & Arts High School in Harlem where she majored in vocal studies. After graduation, Colie continued her studies at Syracuse University where she participated in their musical theatre program. Although an education major, performing piqued Williams’ inherent love for music and provided her with a restorative experience that she would be unable to deny. Colie’s devotion to music and theatre led her to Washington, D.C. There she began touring and performing with various professional theatre productions, most notably, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. After concluding her theatre work, Colie turned her focus to developing her own distinctive sound. “I’ve always felt a strong connection to legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack and Sade.” Spirited by the influence of these legendary greats, Colie began honing a melodious style all her own. With an established vision for her sound and a new band, Colie Williams featuring Soul For A New Day, naturally complement each other with seamless precision during their performances of timeless covers and enticing originals. Though often compared to songstresses like Jill Scott and Teena Marie, Colie’s musical style uniquely blends sounds of sultry jazz and classic R&B with therapeutic elements that speak to the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of her listeners. This singer/songwriter creates music to lift, inspire and share her truth. Colie's performances intentionally set out to create intimate landscapes where she connects and shares her vision with the audience. Since arriving to the District, Colie continues to gain popularity by frequently appearing in famous U Street corridor venues that include, Bus Boys and Poets, The Islander, and Jo-Jo’s. Colie’s audiences frequently request her original material during her performances. Melodic originals such as "Angel" and "All You Need" embody a balance of spirit, melody and rhythms. Co-written with producers The Crank Bros., her style fuses Go-Go, Latin, Classic R&B and Jazz to create a breath of fresh air to the urban adult contemporary music scene. As Williams reaches back to call upon the classic styles of Ella, Sarah and Billy to inspire her music, her message reaches forward towards today’s audiences. For more info: http://www.indiereviewcd.com https://twitter.com/IndieRevue https://www.instagram.com/indie.review https://www.facebook.com/indie.review --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/indie-review/support
I used to live in Washington DC, not far from a place I learned to call the “U Street Corridor.” I really had no idea why it was a “corridor” (most places in DC are just “streets”) or why a lot of folks seemed to make a big deal out if it. Don't get me wrong. It was nice. There are coffee shops, jazz clubs, and the place is full of beautiful late Victorian architecture. But I confess I really didn't understand what the “U Street Corridor” was. Having read Blair Ruble‘s terrific Washington's U Street: A Biography (Johns Hopkins UP/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2010), I can confidently say that now I get it. U Street was arguably the first urban area in the post-bellum United States in which African Americans formed a vital, sophisticated, wealthy, and identifiably modern “negro” (as they would have said) culture. Today we take it for granted that African Americans make a vital contribution to the cultural life (though not only that) of the United States. At the end of the Civil War, that wasn't so. The vast majority of Blacks were southern, rural, and poor. If they appeared on the stage of national culture (and they almost never did), it was through the devices of minstrels in black-face. As Ruble points out, all that changed on U Street in the early 20th century, the birthplace of modern African American culture. Now I know, and I'm glad I do. Read the book, and you'll know to0. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
I used to live in Washington DC, not far from a place I learned to call the “U Street Corridor.” I really had no idea why it was a “corridor” (most places in DC are just “streets”) or why a lot of folks seemed to make a big deal out if it. Don’t get me wrong. It was nice. There are coffee shops, jazz clubs, and the place is full of beautiful late Victorian architecture. But I confess I really didn’t understand what the “U Street Corridor” was. Having read Blair Ruble‘s terrific Washington’s U Street: A Biography (Johns Hopkins UP/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2010), I can confidently say that now I get it. U Street was arguably the first urban area in the post-bellum United States in which African Americans formed a vital, sophisticated, wealthy, and identifiably modern “negro” (as they would have said) culture. Today we take it for granted that African Americans make a vital contribution to the cultural life (though not only that) of the United States. At the end of the Civil War, that wasn’t so. The vast majority of Blacks were southern, rural, and poor. If they appeared on the stage of national culture (and they almost never did), it was through the devices of minstrels in black-face. As Ruble points out, all that changed on U Street in the early 20th century, the birthplace of modern African American culture. Now I know, and I’m glad I do. Read the book, and you’ll know to0. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I used to live in Washington DC, not far from a place I learned to call the “U Street Corridor.” I really had no idea why it was a “corridor” (most places in DC are just “streets”) or why a lot of folks seemed to make a big deal out if it. Don’t get me wrong. It was nice. There are coffee shops, jazz clubs, and the place is full of beautiful late Victorian architecture. But I confess I really didn’t understand what the “U Street Corridor” was. Having read Blair Ruble‘s terrific Washington’s U Street: A Biography (Johns Hopkins UP/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2010), I can confidently say that now I get it. U Street was arguably the first urban area in the post-bellum United States in which African Americans formed a vital, sophisticated, wealthy, and identifiably modern “negro” (as they would have said) culture. Today we take it for granted that African Americans make a vital contribution to the cultural life (though not only that) of the United States. At the end of the Civil War, that wasn’t so. The vast majority of Blacks were southern, rural, and poor. If they appeared on the stage of national culture (and they almost never did), it was through the devices of minstrels in black-face. As Ruble points out, all that changed on U Street in the early 20th century, the birthplace of modern African American culture. Now I know, and I’m glad I do. Read the book, and you’ll know to0. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I used to live in Washington DC, not far from a place I learned to call the “U Street Corridor.” I really had no idea why it was a “corridor” (most places in DC are just “streets”) or why a lot of folks seemed to make a big deal out if it. Don’t get me wrong. It was nice. There are coffee shops, jazz clubs, and the place is full of beautiful late Victorian architecture. But I confess I really didn’t understand what the “U Street Corridor” was. Having read Blair Ruble‘s terrific Washington’s U Street: A Biography (Johns Hopkins UP/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2010), I can confidently say that now I get it. U Street was arguably the first urban area in the post-bellum United States in which African Americans formed a vital, sophisticated, wealthy, and identifiably modern “negro” (as they would have said) culture. Today we take it for granted that African Americans make a vital contribution to the cultural life (though not only that) of the United States. At the end of the Civil War, that wasn’t so. The vast majority of Blacks were southern, rural, and poor. If they appeared on the stage of national culture (and they almost never did), it was through the devices of minstrels in black-face. As Ruble points out, all that changed on U Street in the early 20th century, the birthplace of modern African American culture. Now I know, and I’m glad I do. Read the book, and you’ll know to0. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Josephine Reed talks with a collection of local experts about the history and revitalization of U Street, NW in Washington, DC. Once known as the "Black Broadway," U Street is again a vibrant cultural place in the city, as evidenced by Arena Stage's smash production of Sophisticated Ladies at the historic Lincoln Theatre. [25:57]
Josephine Reed talks with a collection of local experts about the history and revitalization of U Street, NW in Washington, DC. Once known as the "Black Broadway," U Street is again a vibrant cultural place in the city, as evidenced by Arena Stage's smash production of Sophisticated Ladies at the historic Lincoln Theatre. [25:57]
Josephine Reed talks with a collection of local experts about the history and revitalization of U Street, NW in Washington, DC. Once known as the "Black Broadway," U Street is again a vibrant cultural place in the city, as evidenced by Arena Stage's smash production of Sophisticated Ladies at the historic Lincoln Theatre. [25:57]
Josephine Reed talks with a collection of local experts about the history and revitalization of U Street, NW in Washington, DC. Once known as the "Black Broadway," U Street is again a vibrant cultural place in the city, as evidenced by Arena Stage's smash production of Sophisticated Ladies at the historic Lincoln Theatre. [25:57]
Henry Grant was a music teacher who taught in Washington DC's black public high schools. Among his students count luminaries of Jazz history, including Duke Ellington‚ Billy Taylor and Frank Wess, who remember him here.
The Crystal Caverns, the Howard Theatre, and other venues in Washington, DC allowed the teenage Wess and Taylor opportunities to see their idols in concert. In this episode, they discuss the great musicians who frequented these monuments of jazz history.
Washington, DC saw an influx and outflux of some of Jazz's greatest talent. In the final episode the series, Taylor and Wess talk about the relative anonymity of some originators, including Billy Eckstine and others who enjoyed only a short-lived celebrity.
Jazz legends Billy Taylor and Frank Wess talk about the upsides and down-sides of being African-American in the segregated Washington, DC of their childhood. Segregated theatres and restaurants, racist neighbors, and predujiced law-enforcement made life in Shaw difficult. Despite this, African American-owned establishments in DC afforded a respite from some of these hardships— one of these havens being the prestigious Dunbar High School.
Dr. Billy Taylor and Frank Wess share memories of growing up in music clubs around the region and reflect on the role DC had in the development of jazz.
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