Cycle the Ghost Round's photo of what appears to be a 1949 Chevy Fleetline is a fall classic. A quiet Georgetown street, leaves blanketing the car, and a crisp autumn day with blue skies and fluffy clouds; just idyllic.

Like, literally. Our sister site Londonist brings news of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who on Tuesday night jumped off of his bike to save a woman from an aggressive gang of teen girls. The victim of the attack, who actually voted for opponent Ken Livingstone in last year's mayoral election, called Johnson "my knight on a shining bicycle" in comments to The Guardian.

The South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF) brings together writers, filmmakers, and dramatists from across the South Asian diaspora for a day of screenings, panel discussions, and book signings. Previous participants of the festival, which takes place on Saturday, include directors Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding) and Deepa Mehta (Earth, Fire, Water), and writer Kiran Desai (Inheritance of Loss). The D.C. chapter of the Network of South Asian Professionals and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program are the chief sponsors of the annual event, which is an opportunity for both emerging and established artists to present their work, and engage in a dialogue with those interested in South Asian culture.

We reported yesterday on rumors that the Giro d'Italia, one of professional cycling's biggest events, may come to the District for an opening stage in 2011.

It was a year ago today that District residents awoke -- likely groggy from the celebrations the night before -- to a new president-elect. Barack Obama not only became the nation's first African-American president, he also offered residents of the District of Columbia the promise of a new relationship between the federal executive and the city, one that had largely fallen by the wayside during President George W. Bush's eight years in office.

Two years have passed since we last saw Portuguese vocalist Mariza, who delivered a memorable performance at the Music Center at Strathmore. The Queen of Fado, as Mariza is known, will be performing this Sunday evening at the Lisner Auditorium. She is the world's most prominent exponent of a style rooted in history and tradition, but fado clearly has universal appeal. Over the past decade, Mariza has not only performed in most of the world's great concert halls, but also at international events such as the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and Live 8 in 2005.

Two Prince William County teens who were found dead in a Triangle, Va. home on Monday died as the result of a suicide pact, the Post is reporting. Police say they may never know what prompted to Desiree Patrick, 17, and Quirinius Williams, 18, to kill themselves together, but these comments from Williams' stepfather, Ruben Aguilar, are fairly haunting:

Aguilar said he had never met Patrick but had received a phone call from her father about a year ago about the relationship. After that conversation, Aguilar said, "we made sure to tell them to stay away from each other." From all appearances, Williams complied.

Continue reading "Saddest Story of the Day: Teens Died in Suicide Pact"

Good morning, Washington. DCist is actually compiling the Roundup from Philadelphia this morning, where the streets are overflowing in grief after last night's World Series loss. We didn't spy any rowdy crowds or inappropriate displays of frustration after the game, but we don't even want to think about what might have happened had something like the Cox cable outage in Virginia gone down up here. Congratulations to all the Yankees fans in the DCist commentariat. We're looking ahead to the Nationals' world championship that's sure to be coming in 2037.

Heat 93, Wizards 89: It was the Dwayne Wade show at the Phone Booth last night. When Wade was on the court, he poured in 40 to lead all scorers; unfortunately for the Wizards, they couldn't transplant their very good play for the short periods of time when D-Wade was on the bench to when he was playing. Gilbert Arenas had 32 to lead Washington, and Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler both chipped in double-doubles -- although the three were an ugly combined -34 in plus/minus. Statistics aside, it just wasn't enough to overcome Wade, who was hitting key baskets all night. With back-to-back games against two of the league's five best players, the Wizards will probably be relieved to see mega-star-deprived Indiana next on the slate. Oh, and Mike Miller picked up an injury to his arm -- but as Dan Steinberg notes: what's new?

• If you're commuting by car to Montgomery County this evening, you might want to come up with some other plan, or wait until much later. The county's traffic lights still aren't timed right after a malfunction this morning.
• Area corporate executive denied first class seating on United Airlines because he was wearing a track suit. WTTG/FOX5 investigates!
• Jean Cryor, commissioner of the Montgomery County Planning Board, has died at the age of 70, AP reports.

More than ever on the concert circuit, nostalgia is the move. With everyone from Liz Phair to Public Enemy to The Pixies (and those are just the P's) devoting gigs and sometimes entire tours to reviving their seminal albums in sequence, lots of long-lived performers — particularly those strugging to get even their cult to embrace their new music — have glommed to the trend.