Perhaps you've been enjoying the often entertaining fake Adrian Fenty Twitter feed, @fentydc, for some time now. We know we have. A recent example why: "Reporters, go ahead and rail about my unexplained travel, compulsive workout schedule and Axe body spray-but lay off my kids. Seriously." That's funny stuff.
The following post is from our advertiser, D.C. United. What more could you want than cheap tickets to a championship match and cheap beer and hot dogs all evening long? Join D.C. United this Wednesday, September 2, as the team attempts to win its record 13th trophy in the U.S. Open Cup final. Seattle Sounders FC will make its first ever visit to RFK Stadium for the championship match, set for 7:30 p.m. ET For the big game, United has rolled back prices to 1996 level - in honor of the team’s first-ever Open Cup title. Tickets start at just $12 and hot dogs and beers (16oz domestic drafts) are $2 all night throughout RFK Stadium! If you’re a college student, you can get an even better deal via our special College Student Discount - tickets for only $10! D.C. United. We win trophies. Join us for the next one.
Two Fridays ago, a friend and I were sitting in the third base club seats at Nationals Park on the cheap, thanks to the team's recent dollar seat offer. It was then that a thought that I've had numerous times in the past struck me once again: why don't the Nationals -- who obviously have little to offer in terms of the baseball on display -- take the remainder of the season and host a few crazy, off-the-wall promotions? Where are our "Jay Buhner Buzz Cut Nights", our Free Money Night, our own Veeckian brand of happy insanity?
Unsuck DC Metro looks back in time at a novel proposal ever so briefly considered by WMATA, one that never loses its commonsensical appeal: Screw the broken escalators, let's have stairs! A look at the minutes from the 2006 Customer Service, Operations and Safety Committee meeting finds that Metro could save some $1.2 million in annual operating expenses by replacing escalators with stairs -- you know, turning the escalators off -- at some 14 Metro stations. Stations with three or more escalators were only to see one set of escalators turned into stairs (but why?), while stations with those 12 kilometer-long escalators like Tenleytown would be unaffected (but why not?).
Personally, I've always found the NFL preseason to be little more than a waste of time.
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It's late August, which means college kids are back in town. Expect more crowded bars around Foggy Bottom and Georgetown, long lines at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond, and at least for a few months, more confused young people on the Metro. Some have their priorities, however.
I remember being shocked to see Sen. Ted Kennedy come out on stage and deliver this speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year. He had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor that spring, and had only undergone surgery a couple of months before. This speech, and the accompanying introduction and tribute video, occurred exactly one year ago to the day of Kennedy's death.
Our occasional series "Secret History" features profiles of classic D.C. albums as a way of looking back at the District's contributions to music over time. In this installment, we take a look at Tsunami's Deep End (Simple Machines, 1993).
Gothamist was amazed that former Giants star Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty and will face 2 years in prison for charges related to the November incident where he brought an illegal gun into a Manhattan nightclub and accidentally shot himself because the gun was falling down his pants.
by DCist contributor Elisabeth Meinecke Back in July, Mystics point guard Lindsey Harding was hoping she didn't lead the WNBA in minutes played come September. But nearly one week away, she's topping the league with over 36 minutes per game, an immense average for a player who has battled injuries throughout her professional career.
From WTOP: "We'll go and literally tune into your heart, your brain and your blood vessels and harvest the minute amount of electricity the body produces 24-7". Wait, what? When will this be happening? Who will be responsible for this? The government? Malevolent visitors from another planet in search of resources? Will they be doing this systematically throughout the District? Will District residents need a D.C. One card to gain access the harvest point? What about Virginia and Maryland -- will they be subject to this complete takeover of our bodies for electrical power? All important questions. But good luck finding any of that seemingly vital information in the story -- the only thing that comes close is a quote from Jim Ostroff of the Kiplinger Washington Letter, a business publication, touting the powerful attributes of Body Area Networks. (Isn't this exactly what powered The Matrix?) Better prepare yourself: apparently, these networks are "on their way." Quite the bang-up reporting job, there, WTOP. (Don't fall asleep, trusty readers.)
It's a regular week of summer nights coming up. No meteor showers or amazing celestial events mark the calendar, but with the waxing Moon and (hopefully) some clear nights, it should be a great time to put on some bug spray and check out the regulars -- start with the Summer Triangle we pointed out last week.
We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on DCist.
Maybe it's getting hot out and people are caring less or wearing less clothes or something, because a lot of submissions this week are vaguely (or overtly) crude. And sometimes also very confusing.
Speaking of WAMU, DCist ran into Blelvis last night, and he was telling us that he went on one of the local public radio station's programs last Friday, for a segment timed to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of Elvis's death. Sure enough, reporter Sam Greenspan filed a piece for Metro Connection on August 14 about his summer-long search for D.C.'s own Black Elvis, eventually catching up with him in Mt. Pleasant. You can download the segment here. Missing from the WAMU story is that Blelvis may have been hard to find recently because he spent an extended period of time in Austin, TX earlier this year (at least, that's what he's told some people -- the timeline of how long he was gone and exactly when is a little fuzzy). It isn't the first time he's left Washington, either. A friend told me he recalled Blelvis moving to South Carolina for at least a year, around 2006, only to return sporting a much less-Elvisy look. Last night, Blelvis hardly looked like Elvis at all, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, with short-cropped hair and no sideburns or facial hair to speak of, a far cry from his earliest days of local fame. He's still offering to sing you any one of the 1,112 Elvis songs he has memorized, though, for a small donation to the Blelvis cause. 
Blelvis, in his earlier days
The Metropolitan Police Department finally put out a formal press release yesterday on the Monday night killing of 44-year-old Shahabuddin Rana, the co-owner of the Edgewood Pizza Mart. But the release contained zero new information, and declined to offer a cause of death, pending an autopsy. Well now City Desk has the cause of death, courtesy the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner: 'Rana died from "blunt head trauma" as well as "stab and incised wounds," according to the office’s spokesperson Beverly Fields.' D.C. Police have been passing out fliers all over the neighborhood around the Pizza Mart, located at 2300 4th Street NE, in the hopes of prompting someone with information about what happened to Rana to come forward.
This summer's resurrected, but truncated, Screen on the Green was by all accounts a big success, even if that final one last Monday happened to fall on the hottest, stickiest night of the year. So we can hardly blame SOTG co-saviors Comcast for going down to the National Mall with their cameras to capture some film goers giving them the love. But! At the end of the video below, the cameras are pointed toward a group of people purportedly doing "the HBO Dance" during the little musical interlude before the film begins, and there's maybe one person in there doing it correctly. People, people: the HBO Dance is not a freeform, wiggly enterprise comprised of flailing about however you feel like it. When done properly, the HBO Dance is more of a jazzercise move: you put your arms straight above your head, wave them back and forth to the beat of the music, and hop up and down with both feet. That's it. No spaghetti arms, no hip shaking, and for cryin' out loud, no twisting. Let's keep this sorry display in mind for next year, everyone.
The following post is from our advertiser, D.C. United. Looking for the best place to have an after-work drink with friends? Look no further than D.C. United's Win We Trophies Tour. The most successful soccer team in U.S. history is celebrating ahead of it's big championship match in the U.S. Open Cup final versus Seattle Sounders FC on September 2 by taking its 2008 U.S. Open Cup trophy to DC-area bars every night this week. At each stop you can:
One of the silliest local internet traditions has come to an end. On Friday, D.C. media watchblog Fishbowl DC announced it was killing its annual "Hottest Media Types" contest. Which is all well and good, considering every version for the last several years was won by whichever nominee benefited from the best automatic voting bot. In its place, however, we're getting the Fishbowl DC Summer Superlatives, which come in the form of these ten categories: Most Likely to Take a Job with the Administration, Biggest Heartthrob (so, the Hottest?), Class Clown, Most Mysterious, Biggest Rebel, Most Ambitious, Cutest Couple, Most Competitive, Hardest Working, and Most Likely to Become a Headline.
The Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals is launching the first ever Hill Neighborhood Awards, or Hillys. Click over to their online ballot to nominate Capitol Hill businesses in four categories: restaurant/eatery, retailer, service provider and best new business. The CHAMPS board say they will also nominate businesses for four additional awards, with voting open on all eight after September 26. Balloting for nominations close September 23. Here's hoping the winners don't end up following other "best of" awards in the city, which have frequently awarded top honors to national chains. Shop (and vote) local, y'all!
Londonist witnessed unecessary tabloid shock at the languages spoken by some of London's children.
As we mentioned last week, Jupiter reached opposition last Friday. At this point, the Sun and Jupiter are on opposite sides of the Earth (like when the Moon is full), making it the brightest it ever appears in the sky. Since it's only a couple days off, it should still be a distinctly bright spot rising at sunset and lasting all night.
We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on DCist.
We spend a lot of time in this column teasing tourists for doing dumb stuff -- asking stupid questions, not believing true things about the city, being obnoxious. They provide a lot of money to the city and to manufacturers of FBI t-shirts, but sometimes they're just funny.
If you’re a college basketball fan and dying for any sort of action before the season starts in November, then head to McDonough Arena at Georgetown this weekend. The Jabbo Kenner League (PDF), D.C.’s premier summer basketball league, started its playoffs last night and features an array of local players from Division I teams such as Maryland, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech, and even features some professionals thrown in the mix. We checked out some of the games on Wednesday and got to witness not one but three Hoyas in action that evening, in the form of Chris Wright, Jason Clarke, and Henry Sims. Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds and former Terp James Gist were also scheduled to play that evening but both were no-shows, though they might make an appearance this weekend. Admission is free, the atmosphere is intimate, and it's a great chance to get your college b-ball fix in during the off-season. -- Brett Gellman
We heartily heart Fishbowl DC for digging up these sweet 1970s-era spots for local television news channels. Here's one for WJLA in 1976:
Back in July, we reported that Capitol Hill mainstay Trover Books would be closing its doors for good this month. A call to the store today confirms that their last day of business is in fact tomorrow, Friday, August 14. The book shop will to continue to liquidate its stock through Friday at 7 p.m., with deep discounts still available. Items from the previously shuttered Trover Card Shop, which includes greeting cards and office supplies, are selling for 70 percent off, while most books are marked down 40 or 50 percent, and if you're a cigar smoker, stop by for deals on your favorite brands, which are 30 percent off. Regular customers may also want to make a special point of stopping by to wish the Shuman brothers well in their future endeavors.
A few of us have been drooling over this latest All You Can Jet promotion from Jet Blue. The deal offers nearly unlimited Jet Blue flights for an entire month, from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8, for only $599, including all domestic taxes and fees (international and Puerto Rico flights are a little extra). There are a few restrictions of course, like that you have to book each ticket three days in advance, and you can only book one flight per city per day, but still, it's a pretty amazing deal. If only those pesky little things called our day jobs didn't prevent us from taking full advantage. But isn't this the most amazing gift you could give your friend or loved one who recently got laid off? Especially if you pooled together some cash between a group of mutual friends. The All You Can Jet passes are on sale through Friday, August 21, or while supplies last.
DC Department of Motor Vehicles
The new big thing in online shopping seems to be these collective trigger coupon web sites that are popping up all over the place. The largest player in this category is probably Groupon.com, which offers shoppers in 17 cities a daily, emailed deep discount offer that only kicks in if enough people sign up to use it. For example, a recent "groupon" offered a spa treatment that normally costs $120 at a local salon for only $50. The deal required that at least 40 people made the leap before it went into effect, which turned out to be no problem: 951 people bought the discount before it expired. The D.C.-specific version of Groupon can be found here.
I can't think of a single time we've ever heralded the opening of a business all the way out in Reston, but hey, it's August! There's a new Apple Store opening in Reston Town Center, at 11900 Market Street in Reston, Va. That's according to an email from Apple's customer news service. The big grand opening is set for Monday Saturday, Aug. 15, and if you're one of the first 1,000 visitors, you'll get a free Apple T-shirt! (Aside: that's about the most useless thing we can think of for them to giveaway. Where's our free iPod nanos, Apple?). More details here. There's still no estimated opening date for the District's first Apple Store, which will eventually be located in Georgetown, at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman
Hey wow, we had almost managed to forget about the ongoing investigation into a bribery and shady contracting ring operating out of the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer. The Post is reporting that a fourth person has been charged in the case. Sarosh Mir, 44, of Herndon was charged last week with conspiring to commit wire fraud. Mir worked for Sushil Bansal, the outside contractor who has been charged with conspiring with OCTO employees Yusuf Acar and Farrukh Awan to steer contracts to Bansal's company, in exchange for bribes.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum has had quite the year so far. Last month they were visited by astronaut heroes from the beginning of the space race all the way through the latest space shuttle missions; they've continued to build out Phase Two at the Udvar-Hazy location, on track to finish in 2011; and will soon announce the opening, expected later this month, of their new Public Observatory on the Mall.
DCist revisited the saga of Molly, the stolen and ultimately returned local dog, when aggressive animal rights group PETA decided to speak up on the issue of leaving your pets tied up alone on the sidewalk.
Did you look up last Wednesday and Thursday to see two of the brightest objects in the sky -- the Moon and Jupiter -- trek ever so close to each other? It's tough to say that maxedaperture's photo above doesn't really do it justice (because it sure as hell does the Moon itself justice), but the real view was so bright to make even non-fans of astronomy look up and, as a friend told me later, make him nearly run his car into a ditch. (Please practice safe sky viewing and pull over!)
One of the things about smoking is that it's a communal thing. People often go out and smoke together, borrow lights and meet people doing it, and maybe there's something to the whole illegal-inside-most-places camaraderie. Sometimes, however, that's not quite true.
Earlier we picked up a story from the Washington Business Journal that reported that the D.C. Chamber of Commerce was shuttering its visitor center at the Reagan Building for good. But now the Business Journal has a new, different story up, that says the D.C. Chamber is still looking for a new location, just that they aren't confident they'll be able to find a place that fits its requirements at a price it can afford. This piece of information was also not in the original BizJo story: "In the interim period before new space is found, the chamber will continue to provide visitor-related services, such as manning a 1-800 line for visitor inquiries, she said. Tourists will be able to check in with chamber officials either at the group’s concierge desk within the convention center, or at the chamber offices at 1213 K St. NW." Sounds like the communications folks at the D.C. Chamber had a bad day.
Last weekend, teams from 16 cities around the country descended on Washington to participate in the 2009 Street Soccer USA Cup, and DCist's Martin Locraft was there to capture the action. But these weren't your typical weekend footballers: 160 homeless men and women made up the teams that battled it out at a specially converted Kastles Stadium. Street Soccer USA, one of many organizations focused on eradicating homelessness and poverty via the beautiful game, put together the tournament, which was tightly contested. And rightfully so: the best eight players from the tournament would be selected to represent the United States in the Homeless World Cup in Milan this September. San Francisco ended up lifting the Leonsis Trophy (named after Caps owner and big Street Soccer USA supporter Ted Leonsis) after a thrilling affair against Minneapolis, but local sides were also competitive - Montgomery County's entry finished in third place.
Hating on Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza's recent failed attempts at making humorous online videos for washingtonpost.com has been a popular pastime of late, but comedian Andy Cobb has served up the best rebuke to date (via AMERICABlog). Brutal, and unlike the Milbank/Cillizza efforts, actually funny.
Some time ago I asked the DCist writing staff to avoid using the term "hipster" whenever possible. It's a word we all hear and say plenty, but I'm never quite sure what different people really mean by it. Is it just someone who wears skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors? Is it people who compost and keep chickens in their urban gardens? Is any man under 35 who has unusual facial hair a hipster? What's the difference between a scenester and hipster? Are you talking about these people? Or these people? Until I figure out some satisfactory answers, I prefer our writers be more specific about what they really mean. Using "hipster" just seems lazy and vague.
Poor, poor Teddy. The guy just cannot catch a break. It's bad enough that he's usually drifting off during the most vital point of the Presidents Race, or running the wrong way, or having his name spelled incorrectly. But at least things never got violent -- that is, until Friday night.
WMATA's NextBus tool has been officially back up and running for just a little over a month now, and last week the developers at NextBus launched their own iPhone application (now $2.99 from the iTunes store). For iPhone users, the application is well worth the purchase price, thanks to enhanced GPS and mapping features.
You know, a wise man once told me that if you make it really easy for someone to do something they feel compelled to do, then they'll probably do it -- despite all warnings to the contrary. Put a warm cookie in front of a child and tell them it will burn their mouth, and the kid will still grab and chomp. Put a cocktail in front of an alcoholic in distress and he'll probably drink it. Make it incredibly easy for someone to siphon your work for a few extra pageviews despite all conventional mores, and damn it, they'll be slapping Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V faster than you can get the words "fair use" out of your mouth.
Check out local Singer/Songwriter Todd Wright's new project 40x40. He's writing recording and relea
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