This weekend was chock-full of goodness. It was nice to get out and do things because it jarred my mind out of the back-obsessed rut it's been in. I feel renewed. And I dare say even a bit positive. Something about the changing seasons, I think. Fall is here in a big way, brothers and sisters, and I'm feeling the dead leaves of my soul dropping away. The great molt. Strip down to nothing and prepare to rebuild. Amen.

So I'll start with Friday night. I stopped by The Big Hunt for the DC Blogger Happy Hour. This was my second such event. It's an intriguing social experiment - gathering together a group of people who have online personas for some real-life conversation. My demographic is a bit under-represented in this group. For one thing, I'm married, and for another, I'm male. This time, I learned that there are such thing as 'lurkers.' These are people (mainly guys) who do not blog themselves, but who avidly read and comment on various DC blogs (authored mainly by women.) This new element sort of makes these events something akin to, oh what's the word I'm looking for - you know, a place where people go to shop for meat. I forget . . . Still, good fun, and good people. The Big Hunt has Tuppers Hop Pocket on draft, which brings warm and fuzzy feelings to my brain. It's a nice counter-balance to the wings which usually cause me to break out in a sweat and wince in pain. But even that is good fun for a masochist. Strangely, I spent a good part of the evening chatting with a group of Farkers, who were having their own happy hour, and I met a cool couple - hi M and W!

Saturday, C and I tasted of Georgetown with new friends from Monréal M and AJ, and it was good. I won't name all the restaurants that were there, but I will say that we smacked our lips a great deal with all the yummy treats we devoured. Highlights included the roast beef sandwiches from Morton's Steak House, the crepes from Café Bonaparte, and of course, the crab cakes from Clyde's, which we ate on the lawn of Grace Episcopal Church while watching The Blues Alley All-stars perform. The band was a pleasant surprise. Very good - particularly the lead sax and the singer. I didn't catch their names because, well, I'm not a journalist. But I do have a clip. (Unfortunately, I just realized I didn't get the sax player actually, uh, playing his sax. He's singing backup here. Also, if you get camera motion sickness easily, you may want to pop a Dramamine before watching this.)

Finally, during the festival, C and I discovered that while you may never forget how to ride a bike, it does take some 're-acquainting.'

Saturday night we saw The Departed, which I'll just say is wicked good, and leave it at that. Go see this movie. You'll be glad you did.

Sunday was Jenny Lewis and Watson Twins at the 9:30 Club, which I went to see with Laundro. We arrived late and had to stand in the back, which was okay because both of us were tall enough to still get a pretty good view of the band. The only down side was that, well, Jenny is kind of short. So I spent a good part of the show on my tip-toes trying to catch a glimpse of her legs in the high-cut, shiny gold dress she was wearing. But admitting that implies I only like Jenny for her looks, which is not the case at all. I'm also a fan of her voice, and as for the sounds last night - the band was tight, and Jenny and the Twins' voices were remarkable. 9:30's mix sounded a bit lopsided at first, a bit heavy on the backup guitar and drums, but they managed to get it balanced out as the show went on.

After the show, we went back to my apartment where E and C were hanging out with Z, who had come in from New York for the Green Festival. We chatted about many things, including - surprisingly - tongues and licking. Then the three drove back to B-More and C and I watched the Broncos beat up on the Raiders. We had Tivo'd the game, so we got to skip most of the third quarter, which was scoreless and boring.

So there it is. And so it was. It feels good to start this week with a new soul.

link to this | comments (4) | File:  Music  DC