October 25, 2005
Sweet Homecoming
Now that it's Tuesday and we've all officially recovered from our homecoming hangovers, we thought we'd take a little time out to recap some of the weekend's most memorable moments from Howard Homecoming and Colonials Weekend at GW. Make sure to add your experiences in the comments so we can all bask in the wistful reverie of college days gone past. Except for the first half of sophomore year when we lived with that girl who always smelled like eggs and patchouli. Those days can stay right where they are. UPDATE: Oops! We didn't mean to leave out Georgetown. The Hoyas celebrated their homecoming over the weekend as well, and you can read about it here.
>> Jon Stewart kicked off Colonials Weekend with two back-to-back shows at the Charles E. Smith Center, and DCist was there. Despite looking somewhat tired and unshaven, wearing a gray T-shirt and wrinkled khaki pants, Stewart easily managed to mesmerize the 7 p.m. audience of 4000 with a mixture of older stand-up material and newer Daily Show quips. Subjects he deemed worthy of ridicule ranged from organized religion to his own personal obsession with computer games. One joke that was particulary well-received spelled out his idea for how organizers could have made the Millions More March, held in D.C. earlier this month, much more effective: Don't announce it. "Wouldn't you have loved to be in a Georgetown cafe on that day? 'My, this viniagrette is delicious and ... OH MY GOD. It's happening!'" You can check out the Daily Colonial's complete rundown here.
Oh, and FYI: Jon Stewart thinks blogs are the future of popular media. At least, that's what he intimated during a Q&A session with GW students after the first show. One woman asked what Stewart thought young people who, like Stewart, see an awful lot wrong with today's media, ought to be doing to spur change. His answer? Young people are already doing something. We're writing blogs. Of course, in a follow-up question posed by DCist at the after-show press conference, Stewart avoided coming out strongly pro-blog by trotting out his "Goodness Theorem" material, suggesting that it's likely that 88 percent of blogs are just guys masturbating in front of their typewriters. But still. Stewart loves the blogs. Pass it on.
>> Bartenders working Diddy's big bash at Love on Friday told DCist that the party was just getting started at the 3 a.m. mark. We are so not cool enough to have gotten in to the club. We're not even cool enough to have been allowed to stand outside and admire the fancy outfits and flashy cars. Anyone who did manage to party Diddy-style this weekend, write up something in the comments!
Of course, at least one party-goer at H2O on Saturday ended up having a really bad night, but the word on the street is that the Waterfront was THE place to be seen. Perhaps that explains why several DCists submitted anecdotal reports that U Street seemed unusually calm for a Howard Homecoming weekend on Saturday night. Could have been the weather, we suppose. And a big crowd definitely seemed to gathering at Bar Nun on Friday to see Talib Kweli. Did you notice a difference this year?
>> Check out the Hilltop's Homecoming Reportcard, a rundown on how well all of the university-sponsored events were received. Looks like we were right about the Gospel Concert, but should have made more of an effort to get to the Comedy Show. Live and learn.
>> Geez, Wolf Blitzer was everywhere at Colonials Weekend. The Daily Colonial also has a recap, if a bit dry, of the Boston Pops show where Blitzer turned up to do a guest conducting stint. Who knew the CNN anchor, who also turned up at Stewart's 10 p.m. show on Friday, was so versatile?

The funniest bit, I thought, was where the student got Stewart to talk shit about The Situation Room while Blitzer was sitting right there.
I think my neighbors must have had an effect on the H20 party. Since I live virtually next to H20, I believe that last year's diddy party was way more hype (i.e. vote or die). I just had my windows open and could jam out to the music. Hell, my wife and I were hanging out on our balcony, watching the disaster of traffic on 7th Street SW and listened to the music. This year? Rainy, chilly, and traffic didn't start til midnight. Much more tame, much less trash, and less broken glass from car windows. Let's hear it for mother nature and complaining neighbors! ho hum...
and it was georgetown homecoming as well ... great reporting!
Lots of people have homecoming weekends around this time -- AU had theirs last weekend, too, for instance. Most of them aren't of interest to anyone but their respective alums. Howard's homecoming is on a whole other level.
Sarcasm noted, PD. I went ahead and put in a link to the Hoya article about Georgetown's homecoming, but I also agree with Tom: Howard's homecoming is an event that takes over the town, and frankly, I'm not sure we would have bothered to cover GW's homecoming either except that they got Jon Stewart to perform.
I attended the Diddy fest at Love on Friday.. I guess that makes me cool -- if by cool you mean standing in line at 6PM to get in for free with all the cheapos...
hey, fair enough, howard's homecoming is huge ... the post just felt like "so howard and GW had homecomings this weekend and they were great", not the way you described in the comments ... not a big deal at all ...