Paul Vodra. Photograph by Erik Ueke.

Paul Vodra is a band geek. A Washington-band geek.

Vodra grew up in Falls Church playing drums and has always been in bands. He has DJ’d, both on the radio and in local clubs, as P.Vo, what he calls his “JLo name.” Now he has launched an Internet radio station dedicated to music from the area, called Hometown Sounds (hometownsoundsdc.com). The project grew out of a 2009 DJ gig Vodra had at DC’s Argonaut at which he played only local music.

We talked to him about what makes Washington rock.

Daniel Feil: “The eight-foot-high wall behind the sculptural grouping provides the location for excerpts from three of Eisenhower’s most famous speeches. These elements form the memorial core.” Illustration courtesy of Gehry Partners.

Recently we ran a Q&A with Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, about her family’s uniform objections to the proposed Frank Gehry design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Presidential Memorial, which is to be built adjacent to the Mall and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education. Eisenhower compared the design to a “theme park” and said the family objected to it on many fronts, including whether it was environmentally sustainable. Also, she said, it “has its back” to the education department, and her grandfather “didn’t have his back to Lyndon Johnson.”

In response to that post, we heard from Daniel J. Feil, who has served as executive architect for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission for the past six years. He said the Susan Eisenhower interview had “an ill effect,” and that the Commission’s point of view should be heard, too. Here is our conversation:

Photograph by Flickr user tiffa130.

The HGTV reality show All-American Handyman, going into its third season, will for the first time hold an open casting call, and Washington is one of six cities where casting agents plan to do auditions. Women should not be put off by the title—female contestants are wanted, too. Imagine Project Runway for the Home Depot crowd: Cast members compete with one another and face elimination; the goal is to be the last handyman standing, hammer in hand.

Update(2/7/2012): Now it can be confirmed: Donald Trump will get his name on Pennsylvania Avenue, after all. It won’t be at the White House, but at the Old Post Office building, which is almost equidistant from the Capitol and the executive mansion. Today the Government Services Administration chose the Trump organization’s bid to transform the historic building into a mixed-use facility with a Trump luxury hotel, restaurants, and more.

Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, was the family member who handled the negotiations and worked with architect Arthur Cotton Moore. Here’s the story we reported recently:

A year after Donald Trump tried to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, it appears he might end up on the street, after all.

Arthur Cotton Moore is the Washington architect who did the last redesign of the Old Post Office Building in the 1980s. The General Services Administration is currently taking proposals for a new redevelopment of the late-19th-century building that looms over Pennsylvania Avenue. Overheard at lunch was Moore saying he’s been hired by the Trump Organization to handle its design and bid, and that a decision from GSA is expected in the next few weeks.

So we had to know: Does this mean that if the Trump Organization wins the bidding, Donald Trump’s name (which he likes to slap on everything) will be on the building? Moore smiled and nodded. “Yes, but it will be small.” He said the Trump proposal calls for ground-level retail and a luxury Trump International hotel.

Moore also said that for this project he’s been working with Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and Ivana, who he referred to as “beautiful, delightful and capable.”

We called Ivanka Trump’s office, but have not heard back. A GSA spokesman would say only that a decision is expected “in early 2012.”

Susanna Quinn posted this picture on Facebook to announce her pregnancy. Photograph by Jack Quinn.

Are the days of quietly announcing one’s pregnancy a thing of the past? Beyoncé revealed hers to the masses in August on the red carpet and then the stage of the MTV Music Video Awards. This week, Washingtonian Susanna Quinn announced her pregnancy on Facebook, with a photo and this simple message: “Jack Quinn and I have some news.” Very soon after, she had 91 “likes” and 82 comments.

Why did she choose Facebook? “I guess, honestly, because my friends and family—I mean, every one—are on Facebook. It was a fast way to spread the happy news,” she says. Also, the other night someone said to me that I didn’t look pregnant, only like I’d been eating too much over the holidays. I didn’t want people to think I was just getting fat.”

Susanna and her Jack­—who is the cofounder and chairman of lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates, and served as White House counsel during the Clinton administration—are a well-known couple on the Washington social and benefit circuit.

They may have to cut back a little on the out-and-about now. Susanna, who is 42 years old, says in the first few months of the pregnancy, she “could have fallen asleep standing up.” Now she’s back to power walking and working out. The baby is due in June. Susanna has one child, age 12, from a previous marriage; Jack, who is 62, has four, the oldest of whom is 38.

Lady Gaga performed at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in 2009. Photograph by Kyle Gustafson

While he won’t confirm or deny, it seems Art Smith, owner of Capitol Hill’s Art & Soul restaurant, is ready to take his friendship with Lady Gaga to a new level. He’s offered the restaurant to the pop star for an evening so “she can get to know Washington better.” The idea behind the offer is for her to invite over members of Congress and other Washington power brokers to schmooze with drink and food and promote her Born This Way Foundation. The event won’t happen until after the first of the year, when Congress is in session.

As the walls come crashing down on Penn State football coach Joe Paterno’s formerly privileged and protected world, he’s had to face the fact that all the professional, and perhaps legal, Teflon he took for granted is gone. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t commit the actual crime—sexual assault of teenage boys—he is still in the crosshairs of the case that centers on former Penn State defensive coach Jerry Sandusky. So where did he turn for legal and communications representation? He turned to Washington. He’s in talks with lawyer J. Sedwick Sollers of the downtown firm King & Spalding, and for crisis communications and public relations advice, he’s hired Dan McGinn of TMG Strategies, based in Clarendon. The Washingtonian looks at both men, their firms, and the task ahead.