2007 May

Local Licks: Danger

By Jennifer Deseo | May 18, 2007

Danger

Take a few kids from the Vienna Boys Choir, lock them up in a cheap motel room with a bottle of Jack, and you get Danger. The band performs on Sunday at the South Silver Spring block party.

The seven bandmates — none of them older than 13 — played their first gig at 2004’s Taste of Bethesda. From there, Danger took the show to DC’s Battle of the Bands, where they took home top honors for a junior rock band.

And these kids friggin’ rock.

Danger’s version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” puts balls back into the song after Sheryl Crow emasculated it with her country-fried cover. Lead guitarist Matthew Morgan swings the ax like a mini-Slash, and lead singer James (who apparently operates only on a first-name basis) belts it out with Axl Rose gusto.

Morgan shows off more of his chops on “Pride (In the Name of Love),” striking that six string like a true angry rocker. James has trouble with the lower notes, but it’s nothing that puberty can’t fix. He makes up for it in Danger’s cover of “Santeria,” a slower and ironically more stoned-out version of Sublime’s ska groove.

Learn more about Danger from the band’s website, then catch their Sunday afternoon performance at the South Silver Spring block party.

Photo courtesy of Danger.

Top cop: Beware of car thieves

By Jennifer Deseo | May 18, 2007

Drivers should fortify their parked cars with steering-wheel locks, alarms and common sense before walking away, Silver Spring’s top cop said Thursday.

The advice comes after 43 vehicles were reported stolen in the third police district since the beginning of the month.

“People are leaving their cars running” as they dash into stores for quick buys, Cmdr Betsy Davis told the urban district advisory committee. She also cited unlocked car doors as an invitation for theft.

According to the most recent crime report, five cars were stolen in south and east Silver Spring within a nine-day period. During that same period, three vehicles were stolen in Woodside Park, and one each in Montgomery Knolls and Indian Spring.

Seven auto break-ins also were reported on Thayer Avenue, East Silver Spring, during that period. The crime report does not describe how the vehicles were broken into or what, if anything, was stolen.

One feature that attracts auto thieves is GPS, a handheld or dashboard-mounted navigation aid. Vera White, the area’s new chief prosecutor, said placing the GPS unit out of view in a glove compartment doesn’t necessarily deter thieves.

“There’s an antenna [on the vehicle] that lets people know there’s a GPS inside,” she told the committee.

Toyotas and Hondas are thieves’ primary targets, Davis said. Dodge sedans and mini-vans are also high on the hit list, according to the crime report.

This Weekend

By Jennifer Deseo | May 17, 2007

Editor’s note: Weekend listings now will appear on Thursday afternoons, so that readers can duck out of the office early on Fridays with a plan. The Penguin’s music column, “Local Licks,” will be posted on Fridays.

FRIDAY

6:30 a.m. Look for Team Penguin during rush hour as it bikes to and from work on — what else? — Bike to Work Day. Discovery Communications hooks riders up with water at their pit stop on Georgia and Wayne avenues.

8:00 a.m. The annual student art show opens at Montgomery College’s Silver Spring/Takoma Park campus. Catch it Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. until Aug 25.

6:30 p.m. Novelist and playwright Leon Levenson discusses the music of Tin Pan Alley at Kefa Cafe’s Space 7:10 (963 Bonifant St).

7:00 p.m. BlackPressRadio.com, a podcast portal pulled together by black-American journalists, hosts its launch party at Eggspectation (923 Ellsworth Dr).

7:00 p.m. Learn how to search for extra-terrestrial life from your computer, then get the full scoop on Earth-2 before it goes condo. The lesson happens at the Montgomery College planetarium.

8:00 p.m. The Silver Spring Stage (10145 Colesville Rd, at the Woodmoor Shopping Center) presents the Tony Award-winning “Mornings at Seven.”. Tickets cost $13 to $18.

SATURDAY

9:00 a.m. The farmers market serves your daily recommended allowance of fruits and veggies. The grazing goes down on Ellsworth Drive until 1:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m. Tour the Silver Spring home of Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring” and mother of the modern environmentalist movement. The open house (at 11701 Berwick Rd in Quaint Acres) goes until 4:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m. The Lumina Studio Theatre presents Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at the Round House Theatre (8641 Colesville Rd). Tickets are $15 ($8 for students and seniors).

7:30 p.m. The Bach Sinfonia ends its season of high-fallutin’ music with “A Baroque Bouquet.” at the Woodside United Methodist Church (8900 Georgia Ave). Tickets run from $16 to $25, depending on how convincing your fake ID is.

SUNDAY

11:00 a.m. Schlep up to Grandview and Ennalls avenues for the annual Taste of Wheaton festival, where you can sample food for as little as $1. The free party runs until 5:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m. Stay local for the first annual South Silver Spring block party on Kennett Street. Eight bands, five restaurants and one very cool Penguin keep the party rolling until 5:00 p.m. Admission and garage parking are free.

Purple Line route could clip new library

By Jennifer Deseo | May 17, 2007

A proposed street-level alignment for the Purple Line could pass through Silver Spring’s new library.

One route, which would thread the light-rail line through downtown Silver Spring and onto Wayne Avenue, would cut through a plot at Bonifant and Fenton streets (above), according to the state transit administration.

The county is consolidating its hold on that plot so that it may build a new public library, Gary Stith, Silver Spring’s regional director, said at Wednesday night’s economic development committee meeting.

The possibility of a light-rail line rolling through the new library’s lobby worried some. Elizabeth Conklin and Kay Davis, of the Silver Spring Library advisory committee, said the sound of trolleys pulling into and out of a proposed station there could be disruptive.

Instead, the women recommended tunneling the Purple Line through the entire central business district.

The state transit administration should know whether the proposed alignment would travel at or below street level before the county embarks on the library’s design, Stith explained.

Dining: Spring Garden

By Jennifer Deseo | May 16, 2007

Dear Councilmember Trachtenberg,I know that trans fats are bad for me, that deep frying dark-meat chicken and smothering it in tangy sauce sets a bad example for the county’s youth.

But if loving the sesame chicken at Spring Garden (8613 16th St) is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right. (more…)