We Love Weekends, January 15-16

Photo courtesy of
‘Martin Luther King Memorial – The Eyes – 12-04-10’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Erin: I’m breaking out of my normal working-for-the-weekends routine to head out to Alexandria with 3,000 of my closest friends and strangers for the 9th annual Magfest, a four-day celebration of videogaming and gaming music and gaming culture and…well…all things gaming. (Tickets are sold out, but check back at We Love DC early next week for photos! And hey, if you’re going? Look for me: I’ll be the one with the pink hair begging everyone to pose for photos.) Somehow, I’ll be dragging my tired self into work at 7 on Sunday, which is really just a way to pass the time until I can mosey on over to Passenger, where brunch is served until 11 p.m.

Brittany: Thursday evening, the Phillips Collection celebrates being on 21st Street since 1921 with a speakeasy theme party. There will be vintage costumes and cocktails which means I am obliged to attend. Next on the agenda is Friday night’s impossibly buzzed-over Lemuria-Magrudergrind show – a Positive Force benefit at St Stephens. Saturday, apparently everybody I know will be at the Black Cat for the Sockets Records Showcase. I may try to make it over myself, after attending a birthday dinner for one of my besties at Rasika. (Dear server that gets our group that night: Yes, we will all only be ordering from your “vegetarian-slash-side dish” category – but I promise we will make it worth your time in alcohol sales.)

Michael: I’ve got a long weekend with minimal plans. The one sure thing is that I am going to see Afrika Bambaataa spin at U Street Music Hall on Sunday night. The man is a legend of turntablism and chances to see him perform are getting pretty rare these days. Don’t miss hearing this master at work!

Photo courtesy of
‘Photobooth’
courtesy of ‘christopher.poole’

Jenn: If you don’t get to party speakeasy style with Brittany at the Phillips Thursday night, remember the collection is free this weekend in honor of their 90th anniversary, so it’s a fine time to relax and ponder some outstanding art! Maybe continue the lounging about on Sunday where you can park yourself in Quill’s lush bar at the Jefferson Hotel and participate in their quarterly cocktail competition, from 2pm-6pm for $50 (call 202.448.3231 for tickets) with appetizers and of course drinks made by the competitors. I was a judge last round when Duane Sylvestre of Bourbon Steak won the vodka challenge and it was a lot of fun – this time around he defends himself against a tough talented group, some returning like Patrick Owens of American Ice Co. and Sal Aldana of CityZen. The challenge? Mixing up a drink to highlight Jefferson Bourbon. Ah, cocktails and art, my favorite things.

Rachel: I swear, if I weren’t trying to catch the STOMP mini-performance today at the Georgetown Safeway (1855 Wisconsin Ave NW) at 6:30 p.m., I would totally join Brittany at the speakeasy celebration at the Phillips, but a 5 minute STOMP routine in anticipation of their full-performance set at Warner Theatre starting the 25th still sounds fun to me. (PS – STOMP will be in town from the 25th to the 30th.) Friday night, I’m laying low and likely grabbing a fancy cocktail at Dirty Martini in Dupont before calling it a night. Saturday’s the true fun — it’s gig night. My guitar and I will be performing two 45-minute sets at Fireflies (1501 Mt. Vernon Avenue, a few blocks from the Braddock Road yellow line stop) in Alexandria starting at 9 p.m. There’s no cover charge, so if you feel like having a drink or a quick bite you’re welcome to come and join me! Sunday is brunch day. I usually make that decision in a last minute haze from the night before but I have a strong feeling I’ll actually make it to Chef Geoff’s this time. They make quite a tasty bloody mary.

Dave: In case you haven’t heard, the Blue/Orange lines are going to be a little bit of a pain come this holiday weekend because of track work at Foggy Bottom. For someone who lives in Rosslyn, like me, that means it’s either going to be rely on the Circulator or just hang out in Virginia. Since I’ve been on the road for so much in the last few months…I’m going to stick to the latter. Lots of football watching, plenty of Brunching at the usual haunts (read: Ragtime), and then I’ll be spending my day off from the day job at the Verizon Center on Monday, covering the Wiz for We Love DC.

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Love’
courtesy of ‘Tony DeFilippo’

Carl: This weekend I am taking Beautiful Girlfriend outside the beltway to the shooting range at the NRA. After that we are going to John’s house to kill and eat some cute, fluffy, helpless, delicious animals. Then we will go home, pop open a bottle of pinot noir and settle in for an evening of Faces of Death videos. Okay, so maybe I made all that up and don’t really have any firm plans, but with luck I will get to the DC Tattoo Expo to broaden my own tattoo photography project. And I will definitely be eating some cute animals, whether at John’s house or not.

Tom: This is a hockey weekend for me, as I’m covering both Capitals games on Friday and Sunday.  That will mean that I’m missing Krautfest in Baltimore at the Baltimore Museum of Art, but I think if the Caps can get 3 points this weekend, it’ll be worth it. That might be wishful thinking given that Vancouver has the best record in Hockey right now, but we’ll see.  There are still tickets for Friday’s game, if you want to go.  Otherwise, I think we’re trying Rustik’s new weekend brunch, which has me dreaming of maple-glazed pork belly, as well as cheering the Steelers on this Saturday afternoon.

Marissa: In addition to finally breaking out my new KitchenAid mixer (oh gosh I sound so domesticated) for a little cocktail party I’m having, I hope to actually get out and about this weekend and take in some art. With only a month left in the exhibition’s run, I’ll be heading down to the National Portrait Gallery to check out HIDE/SEEK, Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. That exhibit plus a free day at the Phillips Collection should leave me feeling nice and cultured on Sunday. If you’ve also got the day off on Monday, consider giving back to the DC community and volunteering for the MLK Day of Service through Serve DC or Greater DC Cares. There are still several projects throughout the city in need of more volunteers. Oh and I’ll be avoiding metro at all costs since the beloved Red line will be undergoing some work as well (Read: trains single-tracking between Friendship Heights and Van Ness-UDC to repair “tunnel leaks and install new bumpy tiles” at Tenleytown…bumpy tiles, metro? Who comes up with this stuff?). Happy weekending, everyone!

Photo courtesy of
‘Overview’
courtesy of ‘Dan Dan The Binary Man’

Tiff: I love a long weekend. In addition to the brunch at Rustik Tom mentioned, I may try to make it over to the Phillips Collection for some edification, and maybe wander over to Ginger Root on U Street to check it out before signing up for one of their sewing classes.

Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.

Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr 

One thought on “We Love Weekends, January 15-16