Washington City Paper: Contents for Feb. 29

Inside Baseball
The stadium's winners & losers

Cover Story By Jason Cherkis

LOSER: Sections 219, 218, 217, and parts of 216, along with Suites 31 and 32, among others

Baseball boosters love the Capitol dome. Back when skeptics were lining up to bash the notion of a publicly financed park, the pro-ball crowd was using this graceful ivory iconography to sell it. A shiny new ballpark anchored just so spectators would get a view of the U.S. Capitol—no other city could compete with that kind of architectural gravitas.

HOK, the Kansas City-based architecture firm that designed the stadium, saw the Capitol as critical to its blueprints. “It became very important to the client strategically for the Capitol to be viewed,” explains Jim Chibnall, the lead designer for Nationals Park.

And then it became not so important.

Blueprints and models are one thing. But now the stadium is mostly built, and the sightlines aren’t quite as clean.

Nats fans sitting in Sections 219, 218, 217, and parts of 216, along with the fat cats in suites 31 and 32, will find the dome simply out of their sightlines. They will have great views of home plate, the outfield, the jumbo screen—and, well, a 10-story office building.

For this obstructed vista, fans can thank the family that owns the Nationals.

In March 2007, the Lerners completed construction of an office building at 20 M St. SE. The edifice resembles either a sleek laser printer or paper shredder and effectively screens out the Capitol for fans seated to the right of home plate.... Continued

Issue of Feb. 29 - Mar. 6, 2008

News and Features

Inside Baseball
Nationals Park, set to open in a month, promised to have a big impact on the neighborhood.
It already has.
Cover Story By Jason Cherkis
Buyer's Market
Price Pick of the Week: A Logan Circle townhouse condo
The City By Ruth Samuelson
Towering Influence
The Mail

Columns

Water Not Under the Bridge
District and 'burbs continue to spar over WASA finances.
Loose Lips By Mike DeBonis
Can't Win With Him or Without Him
Struggling Stuart High gives football coach another chance.
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Weight, Weight Don't Tell Me
It just can't be true that I'm fat, right?
The Straight Dope By Cecil Adams
The Pirates In His Pants
Cutting loose a sex slave? Dan's bored, tosses it to someone else. Again.
Savage Love By Dan Savage
Playing Center
John Solomon is pushing evenhandedness at the Washington Times.
Dept. of Media By Erik Wemple

Eats

Forsake the Dockside
Marina restaurant owners split; in Silver Sring, fine foods without a Whole lotta hassle
Young & Hungry By Tim Carman

Movies

The Band's Visit and City of Men: Group Dreams
Sticking together is easier said than done in two films.
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Air Ball
Reviewed: Semi-Pro
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski

Music

Drone of Art
Earth’s new album is an inspired merger of repetition and twang.
Music Review By Brent Burton
What More Could You Haunt?
Reviewed: Apes' Ghost Games
Music Review By Casey Rae-Hunter
One Track Mind
This Week: These United States' "Only the Lonely Devil Knows"
Music By Aaron Leitko

Theater

Makes Me Wanna Harlot
A singin', dancin', metafictional whorehouse. Plus: angry nuns!
Theater Review By Glen Weldon

Arts and Events

What's Your Problem?
This Week: One Poet, Three Cities
What's Your Problem? By Amanda Hess
Drowse Beautiful
The Hirshhorn's new exhibit evokes the strange, creepy charms of our reveries.
Gallery By Maura Judkis
The Feminine Antique
Are you a princess looking for her dragon? A couple of guys in Reston know just what you mean.
Show & Tell By Amanda Hess

City Lights

This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.

Guillermo Klein
Friday, Feb. 29, at the Library of Congress' Coolidge Auditorium
Arts & Events By Michael J. West
Dengue Fever
Saturday, March 1, at the Black Cat
Arts & Events By Andrew Beaujon
Tim Miller
To Sunday, March 2, at Dance Place
Arts & Events By Nick Green
Nik Bärtsch's Ronin
Monday, March 3, at Blues Alley
Arts & Events By Brent Burton
Debate
Tuesday, March 4, at the Velvet Lounge
Arts & Events By Aaron Leitko
Adrian Tomine
Wednesday, March 5, at Politics and Prose
Arts & Events By Mark Athitakis
Jessie Mann and Mary Chiaramonte
To Saturday, March 15, at Long View Gallery
Arts & Events By Maura Judkis