Its sugar content. Frat boys. The idea of legal, liquid crack. The way it turns your vomit a candy-apple color. Here's another reason to hate Red Bull. I just saw a grown man try to buy Red Bull with food stamps. The 7-11 clerk had to turn him away. Sigh.

*photo courtesy of energy drink guru.

The Issue: The Festival Latino is set to return to Mount Pleasant at the end of September. Or is it? Some local residents and businesses are not completely stoked about the idea.

Proponent: Alberto Ferrufino of Don Juan restaurant says: "We support the festival 100%. There are a few people here who think they are the king or the government, but I don't know what they are protesting about."

Opponent: Kelly DiNardo, manager of Past Tense Yoga studio, writes in a Google group discussion: "We do have some very serious concerns. The current plans call for a stage almost directly outside of the studio. We could not hold classes with that level of noise outside the studio.... While I think the festival provides other value—cultural enrichment, community involvement—it cannot be allowed to damage or undercut Mt. Pleasant businesses."

Local Resident Sam Broeksmit says: "It's a very hard neighborhood to traverse from East to West. Last year they closed Irving street."

Next step: A community meeting to discuss the festival is set for Tuesday 1 September.

CORRECTION: Kelly DiNardo, of Past Tense yoga studio, was identified as an opponent of Fiesta DC's return. While she did have "very serious concerns" about its impact on her studio's classes, DiNardo says she supports the festival overall.

DC Mud has done some great reporting on the renovations going on at one of the District's few real dive bars. There's been much blog talk about the changes at the Raven. I worried about what the Raven would mean with new retro lighting, etc. Now comes DC Mud with more info and actual interviews with the people in charge.

Read More "Raven Redesign To Provide More Space; Dive Bar Now Will Include Heated Toilet Seats" »

So Prince of Petworth brings us words and pictures concerning one of the few neighborhood bars that has been able to withstand the gastro-pub craze, the serving of $4-plus PBRs (thank you Tonic), and the fight over whether live music can be played in Mount Pleasant with out disturbing the sleep of the gentrifying class. I'm talking about the Raven.

The Raven is getting a retro update. WTF.

Read More "The Raven Is Getting A Renovation: WTF" »

Via Prince of Petworth: Councilmember Jim Graham couldn't help but speak out on last night's shooting in Mount Pleasant. A teen---apparently a 13-year-old---was shot in the ankle. Graham writes:

"I am told the boy did not live in the immediate area but may live elsewhere in Ward 1.

MPD tells me he will fully recover.

But now we have the allegation that there is a drug house operating at 1833 Monroe that has been reported to MPD. And further than the shots may have come from that vicinity."

Prince of Petworth--or at least a PoP reader--is reporting that there was a shooting in Mount Pleasant tonight (a little more than an hour ago). Apparently a teenager was shot in the leg on Monroe between 18th and 19th.

This follows Saturday morning's mayhem in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan. The D.C. Police Department issued a press release concerning the police shootout in which a suspect was killed.

Release after the jump.

Read More "Shooting In Mount Pleasant" »

The Heights Life reminds one and all: the U Street and Mount Pleasant farmer's markets start back up this weekend. The blog has all the relevant info.

Frozen Tropics has an interesting little Car vs. Checkers incident involving the possibility of booze and a fence. A sad scene that you won't see in Bethesda.

Penn Quarter Living reminds one and all that the Humanities Council is offering grants to non-profits whose projects involve the preservation of the city's heritage. Here's one thing we could document: D.C.'s go-go heritage. Could someone build a P.A. tape library?

El Guapo in DC writes:

"Have you made love to a Latino man since we last spoke? Do you long for his touch, his stone washed jeans and magical loins? Bueno.

I do not write to you today with something good to say. In fact, of late, there have been tears slowly dropping and clinging to my mustache. My beautiful mustache that is so lustrous in the spring is now damp with Latino sadness. And trust me, Guatemalan tears are often cultivated by gypsies to keep raccoons away, so this is no good.

What makes this Mayan descendant fall to his knees and sob?

The women of Washington, DC. They have once again conspired to make mi vida hit the brick wall of life."

The 42 notes that some Hooters-meets-Key-West-themed bar was supposed to open up in Adams Morgan. It probably won't: "Remember Splash? The daiquiri bar promising hot, scantily clad wait staff? It was supposed to open in Adams Morgan in the fall of 2007. The space used to be the home of Santa Rosa restaurant which had closed earlier in that year. The address is 2224 18th Street NW, next to Awash Restaurant...."

This weekend marked the first sustained summer temps. The upshot: A lot of dudes used this as an opportunity to showcase their car stereos. It felt like everyone had a serious case of opening night jitters. I saw a lot of rookies utterly failing at this utterly simple task. I understand that it is still too early to declare a song of the summer. But still. Some street scenes were simply embarrassing.

At about 2 a.m. on a Sunday, one dude at the corner of 16th and Irving decided to crank a Modern Country rocker. Not many people were around. But a sense of shame seemed to blanket the corner. I felt embarrassment for the driver. Lesson: this is D.C., no one wants to hear your favorite fake Eagles jams.

With that, I give you Saturday afternoon's hilarity. Someone---and you know who you are---decided that Mount Pleasant Street needed to hear "Hotel California." Does Mount Pleasant Street look like Frat Row? Please. No one wants to hear that song ever again.

Read More "Summer Brings Out The Rookie DJs" »

This morning a very small faction of possible IMF/World Bank Protesters--six jerks--vandalized two banks on P Street. A drive through downtown and in the surrounding area shows that the protesters did not hit any other banks or symbols of crass yuppiedom/corporate greed. The biggest crowds were the ones gathering at a street food cart. The biggest police/fire department scene concerned a man passed out on 16th Street just below Columbia Road.

If the protesters really wanted to do harm to District residents, disrupt their Saturday brunch rituals, they screwed up. Two takeaways from this incident: The protesters don't know anything about D.C, and city residents showed serious courage by not staying indoors on this beautiful day. Here's a rundown of safe activities that residents are currently enjoying.

Read More "Cake Love Unharmed By IMF/World Bank Protesters" »

Sigh. Vertigo Books is seeking kind home(s) for its fixtures. Vertigo expects to close on April 25. Fisher offers his own personal reflections on the bookstore's closing and in particular co-owner Bridget Warren: "I've rarely met a more passionate and knowledgeable bookseller than Warren, whose commitment to books and the people who read them is so powerful that she managed to conduct simultaneous careers as bookshop owner and as director of programming for the Prince George's County Public Library system, even while acting as unpaid den mother to countless local writers and readers."

U Street Girl discovers a garden filled with plastic flowers. Creepy or cool?

Eckington (way better than Spotsylvania) charts a round-trip bike route from his home 'hood to Nationals Park.

The Change I Wish To See finds sadness on the Metro:

"Every single face was its own perfect storm: furrowed brow, droopy eyes, frowned lips.  There was only reclusive color: a sea of grays and blacks and browns; the kinds of colors perfect for blending into shadows. I felt out of place.  But not because I don’t have any reason to fret or fear or fall.  It was because when people are that sad, you feel as if they should be left alone."

The 42 notes that Mount Pleasant just might have a cameo or two in State of Play.

Penn Quarter Living notes that Ford's Theatre is offering discount performances.

D.C. Fire/EMS needs to update its twitter account! We fell for the hype and follow you guys. C'mon!

Maryland State Del. Bill Frick (D-Montgomery County) sent a letter Monday to the superintendent of Rock Creek Park as an appeal to close Beach Drive to car traffic for an extended period. Currently, the park road popular with cyclists, Rollerbladers, runners, etc., opens at 7 p.m. That's all well and good when it's winter, but with an early Daylight Savings upon us, Frick wanted to throw his weight, or at least his letterhead, behind keeping cars off for longer.

This is not an original idea. Frick came to it as a regular reader of everyone's favorite anti-car blog, Greater Greater Washington. The blog aggregated a rant from Mount Pleasant ANC Commissioner Jack McKay:

Read More "Maryland Delegate Reads Blogs, Tries to Influence Rock Creek Park" »

One month to the day Lucy the Ninja Dog bolted from her basement home in Mount Pleasant, her clever and tireless owners have found her and returned her. It all went down about 6:30 this morning, one day after a post on the Lost Lucy blog went up titled: "We Saw Our Own Damn Dog."

Dan Wood, Lucy's owner, e-mailed the update to City Desk this a.m. and has been asked to call in. In the meantime, his Web site tells the tale of his girlfriend, Sarah Darnell, finding the dog whose face is plastered all over D.C.

Read More "Lucy the Ninja Dog Is Found" »

Despite yet another sighting, the dog whose image can be found all over the District remains at large. The latest credible tip has Lucy the Ninja Dog on Blagden Avenue yesterday, between Allison and 17th Streets, which is near a well-known sighting of her on 18th Street. All of the tips have been plotted on a map.

"Of course," blogs Lucy's owner, Dan Wood, "she disappeared a few minutes after the man saw her. And since I happened to be out at that time (around midnight) checking traps, I drove over to Blagden about 20 minutes after he saw her. No dice. Her ninjary is strong."

Read More "Lucy Update: Still Lost, Search Party Convening This Weekend" »

A cleaning crew inadvertently let Lucy, an Australian shepherd/husky mix, loose from her basement apartment in Mount Pleasant. Her owners, Dan Wood and his girlfriend, Sarah Darnell, have since papered D.C. with posters. The posters urge people to call immediately, as "Lucy is shy." But today, 15 days since she started her adventure, Lucy is still still lost.

She has, however, been spotted. The day she got out, she ran through the National Zoo, where, in an image straight out of a Curious George, she was chased out by zookeepers with nets.

Read More "Lucy, the Ninja Dog, Is Still Lost" »