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tuesday, march 25, 2014 Style EZ SU

THE RELIABLE SOURCE BOOK WORLD MUSIC REVIEW MUSIC REVIEW Didn’t miss a thing The traveling fugue In the Noh Full-on fabulous Aerosmith frontman Steven An affliction that forces its The Cantate Chamber Singers do Promising Aussie singer Tyler, right, had little time to sufferers to keep on walking wonders with a Britten piece that is Betty Who, right, proves be bored during his busy trip figures into Maud Casey’s vivid influenced by a spare, ritualistic blondes have more fun to Washington. C2 tale of 19th-century science. C2 style of Japanese drama. C8 during her D.C. stop. C3

NSO director extends stay

BY ANNE MIDGETTE

In the climate of transition at the Kennedy Center as President Michael Kaiser prepares to depart, one thing DRONES! will stay constant. On Monday,the center announced that the contract of Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orches- tra, which was due to expire at the end of 2014-15, will be extended for two more seasons, through 2017. “It was due to be [extended] in August, actually,” Es- chenbach said in a phone interview. “But with the transi- tion of Michael Kaiser, to the presidency of Deborah Rutter, there was a kind of a vacuum because Michael didn’t want to sign anything any more after the end of last season, and Deborah, not yet. They agreed immediately that it should happen, [but putting] it into writing and the discussion of details took a little bit of time.” There was, he said, no hitch on Rutter’s side. “I was with the Chicago Symphony [where Rutter is currently presi- dent] in December,” he said, “just a week after the an- nouncement of the Kennedy Center was made. We had very intense and cheerful and productive conversations.” “For the past four seasons, Maestro Eschenbach has

eschenbach continued on C5

RECORDINGS Shakira, as varied, charming as ever

BY ALLISON STEWART Special to The Washington Post

Is there anyone alive who doesn’t have a special, secret fondness for Shakira? Besides maybe that famously angry sea lion who attacked the singer in 2012 and was presumably unaware of her selfless work with the United Nations and had probably never even heard “She Wolf,” because he would have really liked it. Everyone else seems to have long ago succumbed to Shakira’s hip-swiveling charms. She’s an avatar of pop-culture globalization — a Colombian singer-song- writer of Lebanese descent whose songs are a multicul- tural grab bag of melodies from the Middle East, Africa, KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST Latin America and, most prominently on her new, self-titled album, the American South. She’s a social- media giant. Statues have been erected in her honor. (Okay, one statue. Made of metal, not the hand-chiseled marble she deserves. And it depicts Shakira wearing pants she probably would never wear. But it’s a start.) They’ll clean our gutters. recordings continued on C3 They’ll tend the crops. They’ll let us take aerial selfies.

These are no flights of fancy, say local drone enthusiasts KAYT JONES/RCA RECORDS who meet to compare their machines and dreams of the future APPEALING: Shakira’s spirit mostly shines through on her new, self-titled album.

BY DAN ZAK An agricultural hero, he drone settles back on the cracked asphalt after a brief ascent into the lower reaches of the suburban troposphere. ¶ “Yeah, it flies,” says Christopher Vo, defined in bronze director of education for the D.C. Area Drone User Group. His thumbs release the remote­control levers that animate the three­pound vehicle, which is the BY ADRIAN HIGGINS size of a large pizza. ¶ “I want to give it a try,” says the quadcopter’s creator, Benjamin Victor and his son Caleb, who is 12, THerndon resident Karl Arnold, a telecom sales engineer who got into drone building as a walked briskly the other day from the White House to ¶ the U.S. Botanic Garden, on the Mall side of the hobby. “Just get it up a few feet.” “Right now?” Vo says, a bit incredulous. “Have you Capitol. They arrived unflushed; Caleb is young and flown in the simulator?” ¶ “For two minutes.” ¶ Vo hesitates, then hands over the controls. vital, and his father, 35, is clearly an athlete, with broad ¶ shoulders and a thin waist. But the journey was longer “All right, everyone, step back,” he says. “My car is right there,” says Frank Bi, a digital than they imagined. news developer for “PBS NewsHour,” as he backs up toward a large trash bin.¶ “Mine, “Phew,” Benjamin Victor said. “Made it." ¶ Benjamin Victor is from Aberdeen, S.D., and is too,” Vo says, looking at Arnold and then at the contraption. “It’s your drone.” It is carrying a little pouch that houses a camera. He might indeedhisdrone,whichArnoldbuiltinaboutninehoursoveracoupleofweeks,withhelp be mistaken for millions of other tourists in cherry blossom season, but if Victor is a mere springtime from fellow drone enthusiasts. They’re a niche group, for now, living in the world they visitor, he will leave a Washington legacy more think we will all be inhabiting before too long: using drones for fun and convenience, like enduring than most of the rest of us in this town. The work of guileless Benjamin Victor will be around long any other toy or gadget, and for the betterment of society. after we are forgotten. In 2005, he sculpted the figure of a woman named drones continued on C3 Sarah Winnemucca, a Native American from Nevada, for the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Tuesday, dignitaries will gather on the Hill to com- ROTOR ROOTER: Christopher Vo, director of education for the D.C. Area Drone User Group, does a test run of a unmanned copter during the group’s recent monthly workshop in Reston. victor continued on C2 KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014 EZ SU C3 ‘Shakira’: MUSIC REVIEW Pritzker goes Shaking to Japanese things up architect Ban

BY PHILIP KENNICOTT yet again Shigeru Ban, the eminent Japanese architect who has pioneered the use recordings from C1 of unorthodox materials, including paper, in construction and design, Shakira has weird, very specific has been awarded the Pritzker Archi- tastes: “Shakira” is not her first tecture Prize, the profession’s highest album to feature near-lethal doses of honor. reggae and ’90s alt-rock, as if she Ban was an almost inevitable hasn’t realized that those things are choice. A deeply respected figure with mostly awful. Yet she also has the a powerful humanitarian track rec- broadest canvas of any pop diva in ord, he has created temporary hous- memory — she can contain multi- ing for victims of natural and man- tudes, from cumbia to country, and made disasters around the world. still sound instantly, recognizably Among his innovations is the use of like herself. cardboard and paper — lightweight, “Shakira,” her charming, awk- cheap, easily transportable materials ward, immensely appealing new disc, — to create shelter and public spaces tests this theory. It was assembled by for displaced people and refugees. a murderers’ row of expensive pro- But he has also used those same ducers and writers, including Dr. materials and many others in the Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut. Any design of architecturally finished student of recent pop history knows structures that are distinctively sleek, what comes next: dignity-killing, minimalist and understated. one-size-fits-all dance-pop songs pre- The Cardboard Cathedral in destined for success and oblivion in Christchurch, New Zealand, features the same month. a soaring, A-frame sanctuary space Shakira submits to Dr. Luke’s de- JOSH SISK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST supported by thick, loglike cardboard humanizing ministrations and man- ROCKING OUT: Betty Who (a.k.a. Jessica Newham) bounded around the stage at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Sunday night as beams. ages to come out the other end she energetically performed tracks from her upcoming studio album. Ban’s work is internationally re- sounding only slightly less like her- nowned, admired for its consistently self. “Dare (La La La)” doubles as the experimental approach and its pro- background music for Shakira’s new found integration of traditional Japa- commercial for Activia yogurt, and it nese building techniques with a mod- sounds like something Lady Gaga ernist commitment to functional ele- would have made before she became She’s got charisma to spare gance. The 56-year-old architect will ridiculous. It’s wonderful. be given the prize in June at a cer- Most of the rest of “Shakira” seems emony in the Netherlands. Previous like an uneasy bargain between what electric charisma never faded. signed at a previous show. She informed Pritzker laureates include Frank Geh- she wants (rootsy, often acoustic- Betty Who playfully Who performed tracks from her up- the audience that merchandise was avail- ry, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid and Rem based pop with a rangy feel and an coming first studio album, as well as able upstairs and, brandishing one fan’s Koolhaas. affinity for early Alanis Morissette) and winningly entertains from her debut EP “The Movement,” bicep, added merrily, “Your arms could [email protected] and what the producers want (hits). at the Rock & Roll Hotel released last year. With its dreamy synth- look this nice, too!” It’s familiar territory for the singer, pop confections, “The Movement” drew Later, she said a special hello to the who has routinely employed of-the- comparisons to the likes of “Oracular fans in the back. “Is that where all the moment production teams to con- BY ASHLEY FETTERS Spectacular”-era MGMT and songs used straight guys are?” she joked, and the temporize (and Americanize) her in John Hughes montages. But while room erupted. “Oh, I saw one!” she sound, but seldom has the divide Somewhere in the handbook of “How Who’s live act seemed inspired by specific giggled. Then she went on to say she’d seemed so great. to Succeed in Pop Music These Days,” it’s musicians — platinum-coiffed and not — just met with the Human Rights Cam- The best tracks split the differ- probably recommended that women out- she proved to be much more surprising paign, which had given her the equality ence: The new wave/reggae hybrid fit themselves with a sense of fun and a and disarming than your garden-variety pin that was fastened to her skirt. Before “Can’t Remember to Forget You” is an short, funky pouf of peroxide-blond hair. pop performer. she launched into her ethereal ballad energetic duet with Rihanna, pop’s It’s been a winning combo for acts such Yes, she wagged her tongue and game- “Right Here,” she announced, “This song favorite inanimate object. “Loca por as Pink, Robyn and Miley Cyrus — and it’s ly grinded all up on her keyboardist (a la is about loving who you want to love!” Ti” (one of a handful of Spanish worth hoping that it works for the Cyrus) during “All of You” and paused The audience exploded into cheers again. tracks on the standard edition of the deserving Australian newcomer Betty every so often as she bounded around the “Right Here” gave way to the fizzy Who. stage to laugh at her goofy dance moves “Somebody Loves You,” during which The 22-year-old Who (or Jessica New- (a la Pink); she also snarled like Elvis and fans bounced around joyously as Who ham, as she’s known to her family and called herself the “Taylor Swift of indie marched and vamped onstage. By the professors at the Berklee College of Mu- pop.” (“I write about a lot of different time she got to the ’80s-tinged “High sic, from which she graduated last year) men,” she said, laughing. “I hate you, but Society,” the club had become a room full burst onstage in a glittering gold jacket I just wanna have sex all the time. But I of warm, sticky, exhilarated humans, but and sporting cherry lipstick, her little hate you.”) it wasn’t clear who was having the most shock of glow-in-the-dark hair gleaming. As with her energy, her charm never fun — the fans or the radiant Who. But the most blindingly fabulous aspect flagged. During an interlude, she invited [email protected] RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS of Sunday’s all-too-brief show at the Rock two fans up to the stage to model their HONORED: Shigeru Ban has & Roll Hotel was the playful lady, whose Betty Who shirts — one of which she’d Fetters is a freelance writer. created housing for disaster victims. Drone devotees get a buzz from promise of flight RCA RECORDS AT TIMES UNSTEADY: Shakira’s comfort level seems to ebb and flow drones from C1 telecommunications and aviation needs throughout her latest album. to be streamlined and solidified, says We’re living in drone-y times. Reports telecom executive Peter Lewis, who surfaced this month that Facebook is dropped into the Sunday workshop as a considering purchasing a drone produc- self-described drone novice interested album) is ’80s jukebox country, finely tion company. In December, Jeffrey P. in commercializing the technology. rendered. The midtempo Latin pop Bezos, who founded Amazon and owns “Is a drone going to drop on people’s track “You Don’t Care About Me” The Washington Post, made headlines heads on K Street during rush hour?” recalls vintage Marc Anthony. by suggesting that Amazon could deliver Lewis says, a notepad in hand as he Shakira has four fully formed emo- orders by drone within five years. Three meanders between work spaces. “Is it tions — Reproachful, Cheery, Let’s weeks later, the Federal Aviation Admin- going to disrupt a symphony at Wolf Dance and I Want to Do Things to istration announced a multiyear process Trap or buzz a funeral at Arlington You. That’s two more than Dr. Luke to study and test the application of Cemetery? That’s what’s going to give usuallyhastoworkwith,andshealso unmanned aerial vehicles in the various this thing a black eye, unless we all has a voice that’s hiccupy and dis- climates and geographies of the United figure out these rules of flying.” tinct, especially at the wildest, war- States. The D.C. Area Drone User Group bliest reaches of her register. Tomake At the drone user group gathering, hopes to help figure out the rules, and it Shakira sound like everybody else Arnold activates the four propellers, will continue to bring the curious into takes some effort. On the disc’s weak- which make a sound like an electric its fold and fantasize about using civil- est track, “Spotlight,” she sounds weed cutter or a mutant wasp. He ian drone fleets for everything from crop unerringly, depressingly, like Taylor nudges a lever on the remote control, dusting to crisis mapping. Swift; the song sounds like a reheat- and the drone hiccups upward an inch, “I think probably one in five people ed “Red” outtake, and the vocal tilts back and skids on the ground. KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST will have their own drone” eventually, similarity is too marked to be acci- “Okay, maybe I’ll wait,” Arnold says, ROUTINE MAINTENANCE: Dennis Kappeler of Lorton checks out his drone, says the group’s president, Timothy dental. humbled by the sensitivity and latent which needs soldering, at a recent workshop for drone enthusiasts in Reston. Reuter, who is leaving his government Swift is the unlikeliest of specters. power of his creation. job next month to focus on his drone But, if only because she is one of “Have fun,” Vo says, heading back start-up company. “It’s going to be a Shakira’s few rivals who can credibly inside Nova Labs, a nonprofit “maker- great accessory for people who want to deliver a slender love song backed by space” hidden in a Reston office-park sophomore is Ken White, here for high- drones delivering Hellfire missiles into have a system to automatically check an acoustic guitar, she also haunts labyrinth. “Don’t break it. Don’t break er-altitude reasons than a class project. foreign wedding convoys, as was the their gutters or to document their lives. I the folk ballad “23,” one of the other things with it.” White is an enterprise architect for the case in December in Yemen, where a U.S. can see people doing aerial selfies. It’s an album’s starkest and best songs. Sha- Outside the labs, at least one car bears Department of Homeland Security. strike by an unmanned aerial vehicle extension of that same philosophy: Let’s kirahasneverbeenmuchofalyricist, a bumper sticker that says, “My Other “I’m on a mission, but it’s low,”he says, killed more than a dozen revelers. see the world and document your adven- but “23” is clunkier, and braver, (“I Vehicle Is Unmanned.” Inside the labs referring to the priority of his attend- “You hear the word ‘drone,’ and every- tures from a new perspective.” used to think that there was no god / Sunday, the drone group’s all-day build- ance, which is his way of absorbing the body has that military connotation,” The collaborative energy in Nova But then you looked at me with your ing workshop is underway. Thirty peo- mechanics of civilian drone work so that says Ken Druce, an avionics systems Labs among teenagers, PhD students, blue eyes/ And my agnosticism ple crowd two small rooms with folding he can integrate it into his own. “My engineer from Leonardtown, Md., who federal technicians and robotics junkies turned into dust”) than Swift would tables and every tool imaginable. They belief is you have to walk the walk and makes the drive to Nova Labs several feels like a preview of communal tinker- ever dare to be. talk with great energy about the un- build a skill set.” times a week. “There’s no delineation ing on a much larger scale. Imagine, for Shakira’s comfort level seems to manned aerial vehicles in front of them, The D.C. Area Drone User Group is ebb and flow throughout the album: which are in various stages of assembly. the largest of its kind, with about 1,000 She’s commanding on the Spanish- There is buzzing and beeping and the members, and the monthly workshop is “Is a drone going to drop on people’s heads on K Street during language songs, playful on the odor of soldered wiring. Men walk in an open forum for experts and rookies to bangers, subdued on the songs that with plastic tubs of parts as if they’re learn, build and share best practices. rush hour? . . . That’s what’s going to give this thing a black eye, are obviously ill-suited for her, such meeting up in a friend’s garage to break Other group events include regular as the Nashville ballad “Medicine,” a things and make their mothers nervous. “fly-ins,” where users congregate on unless we all figure out these rules of flying.” collaboration with Blake Shelton, her Speaking of which, Leslie Shampaine open terrain to launch their drones, and fellow judge on “The Voice.” It’s one arrives shortly after the 10 a.m. start to occasional competitions such as a Peter Lewis, telecom executive and drone novice of those duets where two famous drop off her 15-year-old son, Brahm search-and-rescue challenge scheduled people from different genres are Soltes,whoisbuildingadroneforaclass for May, when organizers will stage a joined by their business managers in project at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High missing-person scenario and drone us- between the light quadcopters here and a moment, a world in which we have pursuit of a crossover hit. They sing School. She found the group online and ers will hunt for photographic aerial the 100-pound drones” made by private ceased staring down at our smartphones at each other and both sound as if connected Brahm in order to make sure evidence. contractors for military surveillance and and started looking up all the time at they’d rather be anywhere else. Shel- the drone parts — which average about The people gathered at Nova Labs are offense. “The applications are different.” that buzzing airborne extension of our- ton, also at half-wattage, treats her $500 for a basic model — were actually hobbyists who get a kick out of extend- Suffice it to say that none of the selves. with unusual delicacy, as if he was put to use. ing their reach to the sky as well as devices (or people) here at Nova Labs “Did you get up flying?” Druce asks enlisted partly for his hit-making “I didn’t want them to be sitting businessmen who see a golden opportu- look threatening, although users are Arnold as he leaves with his quadcopter. skills and partly to stop her from around the house,” she says before nity to robotically monitor agriculture aware of the public’s concern about “You’ve stabilized?” running away. leaving. (She’ll be one of just two women or deliver products. Think of the drone privacy and safety as well as the FAA’s “Yeah,” Arnold says. [email protected] — both mothers passing through — who possibilities for wedding photography attempts to regulate the use of personal “Good. I’ll see you after your next will enter the space Sunday.) and videography, they say, although the drones. Drone technology still has some crash.” Stewart is a freelance writer. Hovering nearby the high school average news consumer might picture maturing to do, and its relationship to [email protected]