Oldtown, New Paintings, Ibtimania, Food Movies and The Seagull Flies In

Let's preview some upcoming events.

Thursday is Oldtown Alexandria's Monthly Second Thursday Art Night at the Torpedo Factory. This week's installment is titled Dancing in the Streets. They're promising live music, two gallery openings, breakdancing (I'm much better at that than swing), and a chance to win free tickets to King Lear, starring Stacy Keach at The Shakespeare Theatre.

We'll be in Bethesda on Friday night, leading a 2nd Friday Gallery Walk. The highlight this Friday will be the winners of the Bethesda Painting Awards at Fraser Gallery and that we are finally coinciding with the blues music of the incroyable Brian Gross trio at Sala Thai.

Saturday, from 5-7 pm, check out the Adult Student and Faculty Show at 545 7th St., SE on Capitol Hill. They have nice community-oriented openings.

On Monday, June 15, at the 6th and I Historic Synagogue, where FORs Gary and Suzanne got married on my birthday 4+ years and two kids ago, visit the opening for the latest art exhibit, paintings by Irit Zohar. It is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and you are asked to RSVP.

In honor of another FOR, the superstar blogger Ibti Vincent - currently biking around the country in the name of organic food - next Thursday, June 18, the awesome Letelier Theater in Georgetown is the place to be for Local Food Movie Night! There will be two short films - including "Nora" that I saw and liked at the Environmental Film Festival - wine, and fresh food samplings. I've been to Letelier three times and it has rained each time. If it finally does not rain, then patrons can enjoy the awesome courtyard they have. Tickets are $20, reasonable and for a good cause - Freshfarm Markets. Check out their DC Farmers Markets on their calendar. (can I link to you now, Ibti?)

Also that night (Thursday, June 18) is a Pay What You Can for the new Theatre J offering, The Seagull on 16th St. The play stars among others, Jerry Whiddon, who we loved in Studio Theatre's award-winning Blackbird earlier this year, and Tessa Klein, who we watched with a smile in The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall. Decisions, decisions!

The Long (Gone With the Wind) and the Shorts of Film; Pedal Your Goods at Goethe, a Golden SilverDocs and Fete de la Musique

The EuroAsia Shorts continue for three more nights this week. Although reservations are filled, it seems to be no problem to arrive by about 6pm and get in at 6:20. Tuesday night, a great lineup of humor shorts took over the Indian Embassy in Dupont Circle (after some wine and appetizers!). The highlights for me were: a "singles" short from France with a Neil Labute ending; a Waiting for Godot Spanish scenario about finding Woody Allen's glasses; a 10-year-old German boy proposes marriage to an adult woman (this one will probably be shown Saturday at the "best-of"); and a happy ending, Bollywood take-off on an arranged marriage.

Thursday, the shorts come to Korea's KORUS House, Friday the Japan Information and Culture Center, and Saturday the ornate Istituto Italiano di Cultura. (Probably have to get there earlier on Saturday to get in.) Kudos to Jon Gann for organizing all of this - he should be running the big DC Film Festival.

I also made it over to the Library of Congress to hear Michael Sragow discuss his new book about the director of Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz: Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master. We were treated to some great stories and film clips from Sragow, the film critic of the Baltimore Sun. Unrecognized for many years, Fleming is finally getting his due. He took over from George Cukor on GWTW and won the Academy Award for Best Director. Also considered one of the most handsome men in Hollywood, Fleming was linked to some of its prettiest women, including Clara Bow and, near the end of his life, Ingrid Bergman. There's an interesting article in The New Yorker about him and the books by David Denby.

Okay, more interesting things going on:

Friday at 6:30 the Argentina Embassy near Dupont Circle is showing a free movie called El Custodio. First Friday will be taking place nearby - tough to do both unfortunately.

Over on 14th Street, the esteemed Hemphill Gallery is having a frame sale all day Saturday.

This Sunday at 3pm and 6pm at the Shakespeare Theatre, catch a free rehearsal of their new much-hyped production of King Lear with Stacy Keach.

Next Thursday, June 11, there is a fundraiser at the Goethe-Institut on 7th Street:
Pedal Power! for Climate Ride
Featuring remarks by cycling advocate Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Patrick Serfass, member of Team XTreme4, winner of the 2008 Race Across America, followed by two award-winning films and a reception. Tickets $20/$18.

On Friday night, June 19, SilverDocs, the documentary festival in Silver Spring, will show its annual outdoor free movie in the courtyard behind the theater. This year's entry is For All Mankind, about astronauts.

On Saturday night, June 20, venture over to the French Embassy for its Fete de la Musique. It's only $8, and if the weather is good, it's a nice way to feel like you're in Europe for an evening.

Hendrix-inspired French Art, Varda Rocks and Bike and Brunch Rolls

Looking at his abstract works of startling colors, Thierry Guillemin waxes rhapsodically about Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and other music luminaries. It's the music that inspires the Toulouse, France-born artist who has a current show at Studio Gallery in Dupont Circle. He even named one of the paintings Voodoo Chile, in honor of the Hendrix song he recalls listening to at the time. His new show, Aparte (Stage Whisper) - "like when an actor turns to the audience to say something" he whispers - will brighten Studio's downstairs until June 20, including another "opening" this Friday during Dupont's monthly First Friday. Check it out, after mingling with the throngs at nearby Hillyer's Post Secret show. (The man behind the mega-concept, Frank Warren, made an appearance at the surprisingly low-key Artomatic on Friday and was easily the most popular guy in the room.)

"I am alive, and I remember." These are the closing words of Agnes Varda in her remarkable new film, The Beaches of Agnes, that had its DC premier yesterday afternoon at the National Gallery. It was a mesmerizing two hours, as the four-score Varda takes us through her incredible film-making career and her loving marriage to film genius Jacques Demy. Funny that French Embassy cutural attache Roland Celette was in the packed (truly) art house, because I'm sure he would love to show this film at the Embassy. If any film ever begged for a follow-up wine reception, this one did. Varda portrays her life with incredible creativity, starting with mirrors on the beach, moving ahead to a Cinema Paradiso-type segment of two middle-age sons watching footage of their father for the first time - footage shot by Varda - on a moving cart through town! We see early film roles for Gerard Depardieu, Phillipe Noiret (speaking of CP) and... Harrison Ford; leading actors like Jane Birkin standing in for Varda to air her thoughts; snippets of her masterly films that I wish AFI would do a retropsective of (see if you can rent a copy of Lions Love - it looks like a wild romp and stars "Hair" composers Ragni and Rado, Warhol girl Viva, Jim Morrison, who Varda used to have dinner with, and director Peter Bogdonavich). Yes, she is 80, but there is nothing old or plodding about this film. It's one of the most exciting that I've ever seen. I will let you know when it plays again.

On the June radar, look for a couple big Bike & Brunch events - a Happy Hour Wednesday, June 10 at Sequoias in Georgetown and Sunday, June 14 the annual Fletcher's Boathouse Barbecue. The 5th Anniversary Duke Ellington Jazz Festival runs from June 5-15. I'll try to look it over and post some of the free highlights. There's a Pay-What-You-Can on June 17 and 18 of Theatre J's last production of the year, Seagull on 16th Street. (I'll try to go on the 18th - Nordic Jazz Festival is on 16th and 17th.) Their last three productions have been fantastic - Dai, The Accident, and Rise and Fall of Annie Hall.

Hot Shorts, Cool Jazz, an 'August' Revival, Art for 'Singles' Hitters and 'Sugar' Is Sweet

I saw Radio Golf last night at Studio Theatre. It's wonderful theater in an incredibly thriving neighborhood. August Wilson's plays are such a delight to listen to, especially in an intimate setting like Studio. Frederick Strother, who my friend Rob served a cup of coffee to before the play, gives what probably will be a Helen Hayes-nominated performance in a lead role. If you're going to see a couple shows in the next few weeks, make it Radio Golf and Arcadia at the Folger. We ushered for both; Sarah (at the Folger) and Andrew (at Studio) both run great volunteer usher programs or keep an eye on Ticketplace and goldstar (which is worth signing up for) for half-price tickets.

All next week is a festival called EuroAsia Shorts 2009. The venues are incredible, like the Indian Embassy and the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, and the films look interesting. While "tickets" are gone, waiting lines will form each night and my bet is that many people will get in because reservations were free, meaning folks won't all show. I know that Wednesday and Sunday will feature small receptions after. I'm not sure about the other nights.

On Friday evening June 12, I'm leading a Single Volunteers Artwalk to the galleries in Bethesda. We'll visit three or four galleries - including the very cool Washington School of Photography where we met Ann Curry of the Today Show last month. Then we'll head to Sala Thai, where Friend of Ronndezvous (FOR) Brian Gross and his blues trio will perform while we dine. We've had groups of 30 the last two times we've done this. Sign up at http://svdc.org/socials.php.

One of my favorite events of the year is coming up: The Nordic Jazz Week, June 14-19. This features jazz concerts at the gorgeous Finnish Embassy and then two nights on the rooftop of the House of Sweden on the Georgetown Waterfront. This one costs some money - $25 a night or $50 for all three nights. But there is not a prettier place in town than that rooftop on a nice June night. And last year's bands, though unknown, were excellent. So I expect the same this year. Maybe we can get a group together to enjoy it.

Lastly, I want to recommend some films that maybe aren't grabbing headlines. Sugar is still at Bethesda Row and Shirlington; it's a beautiful story about a minor league baseball player from the Dominican Republic. Summer Hours is a lovely French film about a family in a dreamy rural setting (and featuring actual items from Paris's Museum D'Orsay); it's also at Bethesda Row. At E Street, Revanche, an Austrian film nominated for an Academy Award last year, starts out like a whole bunch of other films, but stay with it and you will be rewarded with an original and feel-good twist. Sunshine Cleaning is still around; this was not a great film, but you'll come out with a smile.

And finally, on the museum circuit, this Sunday May 31 the National Gallery East premieres Agnes Varda's new film, The Beaches of Agnes, at 4:30 pm in their wonderful theatre. It's free. At 80, she's one of the greatest living directors. Rent her documentary The Gleaners and I if you ever get a chance. I did know that she was married to Jacque Demy, director of the classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but I did not know that she wrote some of the dialogue for Last Tango in Paris. Whew!