If you really must attend a holiday concert, make it something musicologically interesting. In what has become an annual tradition (see the 2005 and 2006 installments), the Folger Consort is presenting the most appealing and satisfying Christmas concert in the city. More than just a concert, it is a staged production of the Second Shepherds’ Play, an English mystery play from the Towneley cycle. Director Mary Hall Surface began by modernizing the play’s Middle English…

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist’s lives. When they’re not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they’re watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist…

In case you missed this great Post article from Clarence Williams and Elissa Silverman this morning, be sure and read the whole thing. It’s the story of Simon Mahteme, owner of LeDroit Park Market, the center of a neighborhood struggling to improve itself in the face of continuing crime and violence. Mahteme’s store has been broken into ten times since October, and after this last incident, he had a customer help him place the…

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week’s “Segway Mom” and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It’s not West Side Story, but about as close as they’ll get. They’re also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried…

OK, we’re going to try live blogging debate on the House floor as much as we can. Acting speaker right now is Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D- CA). Floor manager Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Judiciary Chairman, has just finished introducing the legislation and expressing his belief that the District Clause allows the Congress to make any laws for D.C. it sees fit. 12:27 p.m.: Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is currently making the case on behalf…

If Alexandria officials are to be believed there has already been some impressive upside to their recruitment of the Patent and Trademark Office from the canyons of Crystal City to Carlyle, a neighborhood west of Old Town and north of the Capital Beltway. “We are now the intellectual capital of the world,” says Stephanie Landrum, acting executive director of Alexandria’s economic development office, according to the Washington Post. In addition to the over 7,000 employees…

Soprano Cristina Nassif is a 20-something native of the Maryland suburbs. The daughter of an opera singer mother and a pianist father, Nassif received a music degree at the University of Maryland and got her start on the stage in the Virginia Opera Young Artist Program. Last season, she triumphed with Virginia Opera as Violetta in La Traviata, which brought her to the attention of the hungry eye of Plácido Domingo, ever watchful for…

Moving to a new city can present a daunting challenge to even the most well-worn of urbanites — how to quickly and painlessly learn of the city’s neighborhoods and nightlife without resorting to an embarrassing and attention-grabbing tourist guidebook. Into that void steps the Not For Tourists guidebooks, which describe themselves as such: Our philosophy is simple: people need to use the cities they live in, commute into, or travel to effectively. They need to…

Ever wanted to tell the Washington Post exactly what you think of them and their local, national, and international news coverage? Better yet, have you wanted to make sure that someone will actually hear your pleas, comments and suggestions? Now’s your chance. Gene Weingarten, the Post’s humor columnist and host of a regular and fairly popular Tuesday afternoon chat, is giving readers not only the opportunity to vent about the paper, but also the privelege…

Written by new DCist food and wine contributor Michael Mugmon. In the spirit of SportsCenter, DCist asks: DID YOU KNOW that United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has moonlighted as a jurist on the 12-member judging panel for the annual International Wines for Oysters Competition –- the gold medal winners of which are trotted out at Old Ebbitt Grill’s Oyster Riot? In past years, Justice Scalia –- who quietly campaigned to replace William Rehnquist…