Washington City Paper: Contents for Feb. 11

Unchanged Melody
Washington’s last jukebox heroes live life three minutes at a time.

Cover Story

It’s quitting time at D.C. Vending Co.

Tom and Bill Deoudes, 48 and 50, have just finished a game of Golden Tee and are making the lazy yet practiced movements that suggest they’re almost ready to drive home to Maryland. On the billet this weekend: an outing to a baseball clinic for Bill and his son, maybe deer hunting for Tom. Certainly nothing that involves peering into a box.

Around the Deoudes brothers’ Petworth warehouse are jukeboxes. A Wurlitzer “Bubbler” is on prominent display—an ’80s replica of the ’40s model, supposedly the most popular jukebox ever made, now shining with plasticized chrome. The brothers rent it out for high-school graduations and office parties, where it earns its keep blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd. Most of the boxes lead less active lives. In fact, the ones the brothers aren’t fixing appear to have languished in situ for a long, long time. They’re pushed behind arcade-game terminals and other vending apparatus or, as is the case in a room off the fixing floor, stacked in the dark.... Continued

Issue of Feb. 11 - 17, 2005

News and Features

Unchanged Melody
Washington’s last jukebox heroes live life three minutes at a time.
Cover Story By John Metcalfe
Car Toons
For a D.C. cop, auto theft is a colorful issue.
Feature By Dave Jamieson
It’s All in Black and White
The City By Erik Wemple and Jeff Horwitz
Hall Monitor
Selected readings from D.C. Public Schools incident reports*
The City By Mike Kanin
Stalk of the Town
An earful of the District’s alternative energy angst
The City By Constantine Caloudas
Zone of Contention
One advisory neighborhood commissioner fights Adams Morgan’s new distinction.
The City By Jason Cherkis
Time Sensitive
The Mail By Stuart R. Hershon
Rat Patrol
The Mail By Greg Wood
Better Homes and Gardens
The Mail By M. Benjamin
Irresistible Force?
The Mail By Ryan Balis
Classical Gas
The Mail By Sharon J. Chambers
Drive-By Truckers
The Mail By Alan J. Roth

Columns

Unhanging the Stars
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Red Mean
City Desk By Mike Kanin
Verbatim
City Desk By Constantine Caloudas

Eats

The Earnest Go to Camp
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

Courting Disaster
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Seeking the Lite
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Boogeyman
Film Reviews By Brent Burton
Inside Deep Throat
Film Reviews By Tricia Olszewski

Music

Signal to Noise
Music Review By Joe Warminsky

Theater

Nutty but Nice
Theater Review By Trey Graham

Arts and Events

Getting Schooled
Artifacts By Joe Dempsey
Cashews Get Their Due
Artifacts By Pamela Murray Winters
Glass Plus
Graham Caldwell takes his message beyond his medium.
Arts By Matthew Summers-Sparks
Objects of Scorn
Art Review By Jeffry Cudlin
Epileptic
Book Reviews By Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
Book Reviews By Michael Lukas
COVER CHARGED
Show & Tell By Chris Shott