Is this what that guy on American Idol was talking about? Well, count me as another clueless white guy, but Krumping is still new to me, despite its apparently having been around for years. Fortunately for the likes of my out-of-touch self, glossy celeb photographer and Warhol protege David LaChapelle is going to teach us all about it (from a safe distance, of course) via a short feature called Krumped. An award-winner at Sundance, the film chronicles the emerging west coast dance movement notable for its rejection of hiphop materialism and its participants' tendency to wear clown makeup. No, not like that. More like this. You can read an interview with LaChapelle about the whole thing over at Salon.

Seems pretty interesting, although sometimes I half-wonder whether young black Americans secretly get together and plan out their fads with an eye toward making MTV look as silly as possible when it inevitably steals their ideas. "Carson Daly in clown makeup, people. Come on, this is going to be great!"

UPDATE: While you're at it, check out some of LaChapelle's portraits. I'm no photography expert, and his stuff is of a particular sort that many people may not like -- bright, saturated pop photography with lots of too-cute ideas -- but I still find the shots pretty astounding. If nothing else they're eye-catching.

a bit from abc7:

D.C. residents fought for voting rights in Iraq, and an Iraqi-American is returning the favor.

Andy Shallal calls it unfair that he can vote in Sunday's Iraqi elections, before D.C. veterans of the Iraq war will elect a voting representative in Congress. Shallal says he was moved to join the fight for voting rights when he heard about those veterans.

Shallal and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton were on Capitol Hill where they thanked three of the vets. Norton and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman used the occasion to introduce a bill aimed at giving District residents full voting rights.

Lieberman says bringing full democracy home is a difficult battle which makes many Republicans uncomfortable. Norton says the voting rights in their bill are available to the citizens of Iraq thanks to the service of D.C. residents and other Americans.

fritz hahn of the wapo.com was nice enough to tip me off to a secret-ish event this sunday, which i in turn posted on DCist. go check it out. it sounds neat, but i doubt i'll go - i can imagine that it'll be absolutely flooded and i can't stay up much past midnight these days. nevertheless, much thanks to fritz for the heads up.

sorry that i've been light on the blogging - our office is in the lovely, chaotic process of moving; i've started training for the cherry blossom 10 miler and am constantly out of it; and i'm trying to expand music coverage on DCist and make it a lot better. i've been able to work a couple of labels for ticket giveaways and band interviews, and i'm trying to do more concert listings and reviews. but i could use some fresh ideas - any input, dear readers?

UPDATE: i see the secret arcade fire post is already igniting a discussion - but not about the band. people are arguing about saint-ex, how its patrons have changed, and different levels of gentrification. if the argument gets heated it could be interesting.