While the opening song was the same, not much else was. After all, the last time The National came to town (as headliners), they played a sold-out show at the Black Cat. This time, they doubled their audience and packed the 9:30 Club. They even had the entire show simultaneously broadcast on NPR. What changed? Their most recent effort, Boxer, was released to rave reviews, following up on the heels of the well-received Alligator…

There are a lot of rules when you visit Soho Tea and Coffee in Dupont. Customers must spend at least $5 to use the wireless Internet. No credit cards are taken. Non-customers are charged $3 to use the unisex bathroom, adorned with a helpful reminder than only one person is permitted in the single stall at a time. Two months ago, another rule went into effect: no cell phones at the front counter. Owner Helene…

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there’s a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by…

We’ve discussed neighborhood naming on this site in the past; hokey sounding appelations are fine if they have some historical roots, it seems, but blatant attempts to ape famous hoods in other towns are to be scorned. Mercilessly. But the message has not been gotten in Prince George’s County, home also to the Disneyscape rising at the planned National Harbor. According to the Washington Business Journal, Wood Partners, a Vienna based development company, are constructing…

A little while ago, DCist posted briefly on a popular meme that was floating around the internet – discovering the Starbucks density of a city. We were vaguely disturbed to learn that near our particular spot, we had 72 Starbucks within a five-mile radius! Now, don’t get us wrong; it’s not that we don’t like Starbucks – a venti latte can get our yuppie mind juices flowing any morning – but we were a tad…