The Smithsonian’s 39th annual Kite Festival is this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Mall (between 10th and 14th streets NW). As usual, there will be a homemade kite competition, tips and demonstrations on kite-flying and -making, and a traditional rokkaku kite battle. To enter the competition, each contestant must make his her own kite, which has to be able to reach at least 100 feet in the air for at least one minute. There are four age groups – 11 years and under, 12 to 15, 16-59, and 60 and over. For more information, check out the Post‘s entertainment guide or the Smithsonian’s Kite Festival site, which contains a helpful section on rokkaku kites and the rokkaku competition.

Lisa and Emily have already mentioned the cherry blossoms, but I just wanted to link to the Post’s Cherry Blossom Guide. The site contains a schedule, FAQ, a blossom forecast, photos, and a map.

Saturday will mark the beginning of the summer concert season, when Dave Matthews Band tickets go on sale for his June 26th concert at Nissan Pavilion. Also coming to Nissan this summer are Jimmy Buffett (parrot heads rejoice, but get your seats on Ebay, it’s sold out) on June 15th, Mötley Crüe on August 13th, and Brooks and Dunn on August 20th.

I got to see DMB at Nissan two summers back, and parking issues aside, it was a great place to see a show, and DMB did not disappoint in person. Lawn seats are $39.50 and Reserved seats are $57.00.

For those of you (okay, me) who can’t wait until the weekend to see Sin City, there’s a midnight screening at Loew’s Georgetown tonight.

Sometimes an image speaks 1000 words. This one speaks five fun ones.

We’re debuting a new feature today here at DC Metroblogging, called Metblogs’ Favorites, where our authors give out some of their very favorite spots to drink, eat, walk, run, take photos, become more culturally aware or take in the sights. Our first category is Happy Hour Spots. So delve deeper into the minds of our authors and enjoy this round of Happy Hour Picks.
(more…)

DC is the capital of the US. This means that DC area residents have easy access to a lot of neat things. One of them is sitting in on Supreme Court cases. For those of you who don’t know, members of the public are allowed to sit in on supreme court oral arguments.

I tried to do this yesterday morning to hear the oral arguments in the case of MGM v. Grokster, which deals with whether software or harware manufacturers can be held liable for (potentially) illegal actions on part of their users. This was a pretty big case, and a large crowd turned out in hopes of seeing the arguments. So large that only a small fraction of the waiting crowd got to attend, while the rest of us (myself included) were left standin outside. However, I did take some pictures of the goings-on outside the building, and posted them up on flickr.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the morning here. I’m still hoping to see the supreme court in person, and I’ll be trying again next month. Taking a half-day off work is worth it to see democracy in action.

The 2nd Annual Six Points Music Festival is April 7th – 11th and features over 40 performers/bands at 13 different venues in Arlington & Washington, DC. Taking their inspiration from South by Southwest (SXSW), the group aims to highlight local talent and venues. Check out the schedule – I’ll try to catch at least a couple shows at Iota, Clarendon Grill, Ragtime, Rockbottom or the Front Page.

Rock Bottom is even brewing a special beer for the occasion that is debuting the first night of the festival.

The Nationals might wind up with an unconventional sponsor – the Army. Apparently the U.S. Army is in discussions to pay about $1.4 million a year to be the Nationals’ primary sponsor for the three years they play at RFK Stadium. Some sources say that the Army wants to raise its profile, but an official with Mayor Williams’ administration hinted that they might be angling for a new recruitment tool. Even though Robert Kennedy served in the Navy and sponsors would have to be approved by the Kennedy family, Ethel Kennedy as already given permission for the Army to be a sponsor. Does this mean camo hats?

This is where our coverage of the White House Easter Egg Roll would have gone had the event not been canceled two hours into it by the pouring rain on Monday.

Of course, the good news is, we all got an unexpected Take Your Canoe to Work Day.