Final Cut Productions presents the first full episode of “The Videomakers”, an online comedy about small-time documentarians and their big-boss network. The show oozes downtown Silver Spring, from the scenery to the soundtrack.
Some of the language isn’t safe for work, unless your desk is at Penguin HQ. Tune your computer’s speakers accordingly.
Best line of this episode: “That’s for wearing my bikini bottom, bitch!”
Video courtesy of Final Cut Productions.
Starting next Friday, The Penguin drops a new weekly episode of “The Videomakers”. The comedy series — about a small TV production crew hustling reality programs to a bigger cable company (ahem!) — is cooked by local guy Walter Gottlieb and Final Cut Productions.
The web series is set in downtown Silver Spring (holler!), and each episode features familiar footage of the fountain, the acorn, Silver Spring’s Metro station — you name it, it’s in there. The actors are local. Even the soundtrack is local, performed by Silver Spring’s Echo Boom.
Check out this teaser video, then catch the first full episode next Friday.
Video footage courtesy of Final Cut Productions.
Photo: Checking out the goods at the South Silver Spring block party. Courtesy of Evan Glass.
Silver Spring’s streets were thumping Saturday as two events drew residents out of their homes and into the hood.
Menacing morning clouds gave way to uber-bright sunshine, just in time for the Fenton Street Market. The crafts fair was the second such event at the parking lot on Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue. (more…)
Photo: If you're not already on line, you ain't getting tickets. Credit: DCDebbie for The Penguin.
An assload of people stood in line outside the AFI Silver Theatre Monday afternoon to score free tickets to a new flick.
By noon, the line to see Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, wriggled down Colesville Road. It then wrapped around the corner into the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center’s driveway along Georgia Avenue.
“They sold out within 17 minutes, and there were at least 250-plus people still in line very disappointed!” roving Penguin photographer DCDebbie reported via Twitter.
Theater management announced last week that the controversial director would appear at the advanced screening, which drops Monday at 8:00 p.m. The film opens in theaters nationwide Friday, Oct 2, 2009.
Photo: Musician Pat Gillis at Saturday's performance. Courtesy of IntangibleArts; reprinted with permission.
Attending an experimental-music performance can be like walking into a mad scientist’s lab. Alien transistor thingies sit next to spare turntable parts. A flat-screen monitor plugs into a soundboard. Wires and cables slither everywhere.
To the untrained eye (and uninitiated ear), it’s an intimidating mess. But for fans and curious onlookers, experimental music is a feat of orchestrated chaos. An umbrella term, experimental music can mean anything from free-form jazz (usually with a digital twist) to industrial noise and ear-piercing feedback. A new album highlighting that range was released recently and celebrated Saturday at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.
“This type of music puts a lot of responsibility on the listener,” Jason Mullinax, a percussionist who performs as Pilesar, told The Washington Post last week. “It forces you to think, it forces you to be an active participant. You can’t just turn it on and do the dishes.” (more…)
Credit: J. Deseo/SSP
Montgomery College blew open the doors to its new performing arts center in South Silver Spring Friday night with that new-building smell and a soulful performance by Aretha Franklin.
Dressed in a full-length red gown (left), the corpulent Queen of Soul stood in stark contrast to the 500-seat theater’s cinderblock walls and chain mail curtains. That juxtaposition set the pace for a performance marked by stirring vocals and uncomfortable pauses.
Franklin started her performance with a monotone delivery of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”. With her vocal chords warmed over, she soon belted out joints with most of the range that marked her 40-year-long musical career.
But the audience, which gave Franklin a standing O at first sight, was reserved most of the evening. The near-sellout crowd applauded politely, clapped along when The Queen demanded “Respect”, and nodded their heads to the beat. Otherwise, their responses to Franklin were subdued, which led to a few awkward moments. (more…)
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