December begins tomorrow, and that means only one thing: it’s time to take that special person in your life to a holiday concert. Do you want to subject him or her to the same old carols, something historical, or something really weird? Here is a list of your options, not including the many performances of Handel’s Messiah or The Nutcracker, to be previewed tomorrow. THE BEST OF THE BEST: >> For those who never want…

>> The holiday gift season is officially here, which means we’re going to start seeing a little more emphasis on the latter half of “arts and crafts” around the city, when the search for the perfect present for Aunt Sallie ends with you standing in front of a pile of handmade tea kettle cozies. You might want to start with the high quality stuff, and get to the Washington Craft Show this weekend at the…

Firefighters took almost eight hours to put out a four-alarm blaze overnight in Adams Morgan on the 2600 block of Adams Mill Rd., across from Pierce Park. The fire started at about 1:15 a.m., gutting a four-story apartment building and displacing residents of more than 30 units. The length of time it took to battle the blaze is being blamed on low water pressure in Adams Morgan. WTOP explains that the firefighters originally tapped…

Written by DCist Contributor Laura Logerfo For the central cathedral in a major city, St. Matthew’s somehow blends in. The Cathedral is surrounded by offices that stand nearly as high as the church, and its brick façade resembles that of adjacent buildings. It is situated near one of the busiest and trickiest intersections in DC, where Connecticut Ave., Rhode Island Ave., 18th and M Streets all meet. On weekends, city dwellers pass by the church…

Via Kriston Capps, it seems ANC 3F-04 Commissioner Frank Winstead compiled a scaaaaaary video in an attempt to stir up public safety concerns about the ping pong table located outside Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Ave. NW. We give Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham a lot of guff about trying to shut down businesses where violent crimes occur, but clearly the baton of irrational nannyism in local government has been successfully passed….

This post by DCist Staff writer Eddie Kim According to an article in this week’s New York Times Dining section, about half of the days in the year are dedicated to some sort of food or drink. This month we can look forward to National Caviar Day, National Lobster Day and National Cognac Day, just to name a few. But, until we can start lining up for free samples of sevruga caviar, lobster tails, or…

>> Celebrate the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a discussion of Japanese cinema and culture at the Freer Gallery. Film scholar Tom Vick presents film clips illustrating changes in family dynamics and Japanese society throughout the 20th Century. [Jefferson Dr. at 12th St. SW, $18, 7 p.m.] >> Catch the latest installment of Geek Comedy Tour 3K at Riot Act Comedy Club (aka HR-57). This collection of nerds waxes poet on…

By DCist contributor Matt Pelkey “Out of the way, you slow f#@%!” Everyone’s probably yelled something to that effect from behind the wheel of a car. Following tomorrow’s launch of D.C.’s new traffic calming program, you may find yourself cursing dawdlers on the road more often. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) are launching the D.C. Neighborhood Pace Car Program, in which drivers voluntarily sign a pledge to…

We’re gobsmacked that we forgot to mention Tim “Make it Work” Gunn’s planned whirlwind visit to the District this weekend. A native of Washington, he’s a veteran of Corcoran College of Art + Design and hit the big time as a mentor to aspiring designers on Bravo’s oddly addictive Project Runway. Along with co-author Kate Moloney, Gunn comes to town promoting his new fashion manifesto, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style….

No, we haven’t got any specific panda-riffic events tonight. It just seems like a good time to remind you that we’re smack dab in the middle of Panda Month. As the weather slowly crawls into the “tolerable” range, it’s a great time to check out D.C.’s hottest family at the National Zoo, before summer tourists completely take over Woodley Park. >> After a year-long battle for a liquor license Vegetate has emerged triumphant to…