Our good friends at Pitchfork, who we all know you love to hate and hate to love, have a new weekly feature running in which they ask artists what music/movies/books/flavor of ice cream they’re really digging lately. Yesterday’s subject? D.C.’s favorite son (even if he did abandon us for Jersey), Ted Leo. It’s no secret Leo loves D.C. as much as we love him. Many of his early days were spent here, first with Chisel and then as a solo artist, he’s often back in town to record, and his tours swing back through the area more times than we have any right to expect. For that last item particularly, we’re eternally grateful. Often as he finds himself back here, he’s played cities all over the country and the world; his touring schedule is pretty relentless. Knowing that, and knowing how much locals like to constantly moan about this or that thing that they hate about the Black Cat, it was nice to read Leo’s response when the ‘Fork queried him as to the best music venue there is, in his humble estimation:

I would probably have to say that the Black Cat in D.C. remains my favorite place, whether it’s just because it’s such a comfort zone for me, I’m not sure, but it really is just always a great stage to play on, and it’s always a really welcoming place to play. And I also think it’s a great place to see shows. To get specific, the sight lines around the room are amazing, and the sound system is good.

The last show that I saw that I wasn’t also playing was– we recorded our new record in Massachusetts, but I mixed it in D.C., so I was down there for a couple of weeks– and I saw what I guess was one of the last Supersystem shows down there, with a band called Party Line, which is Allison [Wolfe] from Bratmobile’s new band. And that was actually a really good show.

While we’re still likely to grouse about the sound from time to time, or how long it often takes to get into a sold out show, the fact is, for most long time residents, it’s hard to think about local rock shows without the Black Cat dominating those memories with great show after great show. We just wish that Ted was playing that smaller room rather than the more impersonal 9:30 stage when he comes to town in a couple of weeks.