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Nouveau Riche Moves On Up

This month, D.C.’s Best Dance Night (as decreed by yours truly) will move from its station at DC9 to the bigger, badder Club 5. That means that Nouveau Riche—with DJs Gavin Holland, SteveLove, and Nacey—will now span three floors, and last from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Eight hours: Some might call that a “work day.” Gavin Holland was nice enough to field five questions about the nouveau Nouveau Riche, which debuts at Club Five on Saturday, June 28th.

CP: What have you guys got planned for those extra two hours?

GH: Well, to the public, it will appear that our friend Spiggy from Sleaze will be rocking the mainstage during that time. But secretly, I will be holding an introductory aerobics class on the main floor, while Steve and Nacey will be heading up a personal finance seminar in the bottle service area. Plus we expect all of our DJ friends to come by for the after-hours fun (or else!), and we hear that certain rockstars who shall remain anonymous may be heading to Five as well…

Read the rest of this entry »

Phoenix Gets More Notice

There’s a nice piece in Express‘ Fit section today about Phoenix Bike Shop in Arlington, which I picked as Best Bike Shop a few weeks ago. That wasn’t an easy choice—I frequent a few bike shops and am deliriously happy with most of them. City Bikes, right near our office, is a classic local bike shop, with great stock, friendly clerks, and perhaps the greatest wrenches in the city. Spokes Etc. in Alexandria is also a fine shop, and I hear great things about the Bike Rack and pretty much every other LBS in the area.

What makes Phoenix great isn’t the fact that you can get a fully rehabbed bike with a nice ’70s lugged frame for less than $100, it’s that kids in south Arlington, which comprises some of the poorest areas of the county, can earn a sharp ride just by helping out around the shop. The shop’s director, Colin Dixon, and chief mechanic, John Harpold, take kids out on rides every week. “I just have always seen bikes and used bikes not as a lifestyle but as the best part of how to get things done,” Dixon told me. And that’s why I think his shop is the best, even with such stiff competition.

Bike Parking at National Affected by Construction

bike parking lot at reagan national

The bike parking lot at National is closed for construction, neatly obviating my Best-of item on the subject. Goddamn, at least one of the commenters on this fine post has been proved correct (hey, if you wait long enough…).

There’s still bike parking at National, though it’s not as convenient. Also via WashCycle, here’s a map.

Mambo Sauce Superlatives

So, you may have heard that our Best of D.C. issue is out. If you haven’t heard: Are you living out of a box in Rock Creek Park or something? Go get one! Even though the issue is the largest in memory for the City Paper, there were some items that just wouldn’t fit. To wit: the classic D.C. Go-Go Band, Mambo Sauce. All of Mambo Sauce (of “Welcome to D.C.” fame and the stars of local label Red C Records) were included in our Classic D.C. Archetypes feature, but didn’t make it to the print issue. For this, we are sorry, because these people are pretty, they’re talented, and they love them some D.C., so here they are, along with their answers to the burning question: What is the Best of D.C.?

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Andy White: Ben’s Chili Bowl

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Black Boo: We’ve got our own swagger. We march to the beat of our own drum.

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Keyboard Chris: We have our own form of music native to our area (until Mambo Sauce spreads it to the rest of the world)!

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Pep: Go-Go!!!

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Twink: My family
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Yendy: The city’s rich African-American history.

Hey, Thanks for Entering Our Fuckin’ Contest

Well after you all got goosed, you came through. So thanks. We do have a winner on our First Annual Best Of D.C. Local Bona Fides Contest. And Mr. Know It All D.C. is His Highness, the Prince of Petworth. He was feeling a little cocky in the comments section—”I think I got 3 or 4. I’m feeling pretty good”—with good reason. In fact, he did get four of the seven correct, making that good enough for our totebag o’ swag.

The runner-up is Charles Allen, who also got four correct, but it took him two tries (Still, nice work Charles. Please keep playing. You know, like next year for the Second Annual Best of D.C. Local Bona Fides Contest).

Also rans include: Danica Kane (three correct), Brett Hollenbeck (2.5—correct on No. 7, but he gave two answers to hedge his bets. Go with your gut, Brett!), Martin Austermuhle (two), Rachel Brown (two), Tamara Sawyer (one).

Of special note: Our thanks go out to Joseph Price (one correct) because a.) he was our first contestant and b.) had a great comment: “No one has entered the fucking contetest because it’s fucking impossible.” Although not entirely true—all of the correct answers were given, just not by the same person—it was not easy and we appreciate you fucking entering, more than you will ever know.

Without further ado, here are the correct answers:

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Graffitti on 14th Street, 1800 block (Best Family-Friendly Mural)

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Bohemian Caverns (Best Jazz Club, Downstairs)

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Capitol Hill Books (among Best Messy Bookstores)

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Owney the Dog at National Postal Museum (Best Animal Monument)

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English Custom Tailors, 1742 Wisconsin Ave. (Best Tailor)

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Bar Pilar (Best Cocktail Menu)

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Pharmacy Bar (Best Jukebox)

Hey, Will Someone Please Enter Our Fuckin’ Contest?

If you get one right, you’re way ahead.

Below please behold seven photographs, all of which will appear in Thursday’s Best Of D.C. issue. Your job is to identify the places pictured in the photographs. Pretty simple, Mr. D.C. Know-It-All! Please e-mail your entry to dmontgomery[at]washingtoncitypaper.com.

The first contestant to get all the the most right answers wins the famous Washington City Paper Prize Pack, which includes Landmark Theatre tix, fifty bucks toward a meal at Stars Bistro & Bar, plus various Washington City Paper products in a nice little tote.

Google won’t help you here, nor will any fancy computer tricks. Have at it.

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Win The Deluxe City Paper Prize Pack!

So you think you know this town, huh? You’ve been to all the happy hours. You’ve checked out all the museums. You know your Penn Branch as well as your North Portal Estates. You know more shortcuts than the cabbies.

Well, we here at Washington City Paper would like to recalibrate your self-esteem when it comes to things D.C. That’s why we have come up with the First Annual Best Of D.C. Local Bona Fides Contest.

Here’s the way it goes: Below please behold seven photographs, all of which will appear in Thursday’s Best Of D.C. issue. Your job is to identify the places pictured in the photographs. Pretty simple, Mr. D.C. Know-It-All! Please e-mail your entry to dmontgomery[at]washingtoncitypaper.com. The first contestant to get all the right answers wins. If no one aces the test by midnight Wednesday, the entry with the highest score wins. If there is a clusterfuck of tied entries, we’ll draw straws or just bag the whole thing altogether.

Winner will receive the famous Washington City Paper Prize Pack, which includes Landmark Theatre tix, fifty bucks toward a meal at Stars Bistro & Bar, plus various Washington City Paper products in a nice little tote.

Google won’t help you here, nor will any fancy computer tricks. Have at it.

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Voting Irregularities

We’re deep into tallying the votes from our Best of D.C. Readers’ Poll, in preparation for next week’s issue. The paper ballots have been entered and now we’re sorting out the winners. With over 50,000 nominees, it’s been more than a little tedious and occasionally surprising. Some examples:

  • “Best Outdoor Venue” There are exactly as many ways of spelling “Merriweather Post Pavillion” as there are people who voted for Merriweather Post Pavillion. But we persevere.
  • “Best Caps Player” One popular nominee’s last name is spelled with at least one and not more than three instances of the letters “c,” “k,” “i”, “o,” “v,” “e,” “n” and “h,” but the final order of these letters appears to be a matter of personal preference.
  • “Best Jumbo Slice” Many people simply voted for “Jumbo Slice.” Well, okay.
  • “Best Art Gallery” Someone voted for “Hooters.”
  • “Best Exhibit” Without naming the overall winner or even the runners-up, we can reveal that Ansel Adams was soundly beaten by Stephen Colbert.

Oh my goodness, this best-of issue is gonna be a MONSTER. I just copy-edited most of the food section, and I am now bleeding from my eyes. It’s great, but damn, there is a lot of best in this baby. If you’re planning on reading this thing before the weekend, you might want to take Friday off.

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