Charles T. Downey
@ionarts.bsky.social
Associate Editor and Lead Critic, Washington Classical Review; Founder of Ionarts; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology; Classical Music Fiend; Opera Addict; Baroqueux agréable and Public Musicologist (all views expressed are my own, not those of my employers)
Until this is resolved, the NSO and Fortas seasons likely remain in limbo - it sure throws a wrench into the usual August tradition of writing about the new season
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 2h agoA federal judge in May ordered the Kennedy Center to reconsider a two-year closure. But just days before the trustees are set to vote on the matter, they have received no new assessments about how closing for two years would affect the venue.
I'm glad someone has thought about this, but it does seem rushed to say the least www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
National Gallery studied whether Freedom 250 IndyCar vibrations will affect art
While museums have not declared major risks, preservationists say they are concerned the race could affect nearby buildings holding priceless art and artifacts.
washingtonpost.com
love living in a timeline where a notable callout for a CDC director is “she supports science”
I feel like it might have been a bad idea to hand the world over to sociopaths
Django Wexler@djangowexler.bsky.social · 6h agoSomehow things that would have been a background gag in a Verhoeven movie are now just real
DMV! The grand opening of Olney Theatre Center's campus expansion leads off my weekly What to Do for @notusmetro.bsky.social.
What to Do in the D.C. Area This Weekend (Aug. 7)
The grand opening of Olney Theatre’s expansion, a sitcom-inspired dance party, and a canine competition at the Wharf.
notus.org
We should probably stop electing people whose brains don't work so good. 
We are governed by the biggest jackasses living in the dumbest frat house on your old college campus.
Taking my time to really listen and learn from the very valid concerns of the MAHA movement:
Memento (artemis) Morty 🌙@mementomorty.bsky.social · 9h agowe should hear MAHA out about this they might be onto something
Well, to misquote Oliver Postgate: Tommy was just an old, saggy, second-hand cat—antisocial, half-witted, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams, but we loved her
It's Saint Oswald's day! Here's his post from last year.
Carin Ruff@carinr.bsky.social · last yr.If it's the Nones of August, it must be the feast Oswald, King of Northumbria, d. 642. 🕯️ Cambridge University Library MS Ii.1.33 is a later-12c copy of Ælfric's homilies, including his Life of Oswald, starting here on fol. 161r. #medievalsky
The Kennedy Center was closed Monday August 3 and Tuesday August 4th for “maintenance “ their website says but will reopen August 5 and include “tours.” Earlier they had announced the cancellation of tours. Screenshot here & link in next post of thread. Some Millennium Stage gigs are at the Reach
🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper was one of the most self-destructive things I've ever witnessed on cable news. Here's the whole thing:
🤯 Max Miller's interview with Tapper is an utter trainwreck 🤯
YouTube video by Aaron Rupar
youtube.com
Ooh yes must read
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · yesterday‘By the time Chauvet was painted the figure-field dialogue, and its power as an organiser of possible worlds, had clearly been the subject of long theory and practice. These are sophisticated performances.’ T.J. Clark on the Chauvet cave paintings, new online. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Black Bear spotted in DC Saturday!! - OK, Alright, Larry and the coyotes were cool but this is something too. www.popville.com/2026/08/blac...
Black Bear spotted in DC Saturday!! - PoPville
photo from the PoPville archives circa 2013 Thanks to Jared for passing on the alert: "Black bear spotted in Upper NW DC on Saturday - sounds like it was in the Glover Archbold Park trail between the ...
popville.com
Interesting piece coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Lorenzo da Ponte's introduction of Italian opera to the U.S. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/a...
Their Forefather Was a Grocer and Mozart’s Most Important Librettist
Generations on, Lorenzo Da Ponte’s family keeps alive the memory of this poet and libertine, who ended up in the middle of Pennsylvania after being booted from Venice and Vienna.
nytimes.com
"Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack." — Virgina Woolf *** Mercer St. Used Book Shop
