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Brit About Town: What's been fun in DC last week - and what's coming up

1/28/2014

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A combination of freezing temperatures and the flu keeping me huddled on the sofa made me think at first that I had little to mention this week - until I thought about it and realized that a true Brit About Town is not incapacitated by temperatures or illness! 


Wednesday was the big Capital Pride party at the W Hotel, where the theme of this year's Pride festivities was revealed: The Future. I went along, and had a surprisingly good time. As well as the drinks - and the POV Bar's excellent views over the Mall - I enjoyed being interviewed for 20 Questions with Brock Thompson, eating cake pops, and having my photo taken with a comedy sci fi backdrop... It was a great and really diverse crowd - all ages, genders, and the like. Really nice to see Capital Pride engaging the imaginations and attendance of so many people. I can't wait to ride on the British Embassy float in this year's parade in June! Am already musing upon my British-Gay-Futuristic costume...


But of course no party is as good as a Burns Night party - I spent a delightful evening with 50 of my closest friends squeezed into our tartan-bedecked apartment on Saturday night, drinking Scotch, eating haggis, spouting poems, and vigorously ceilidh dancing. An excellently Scottish time was had. 



But when I'm not personally creating the fun, it's not often that entertainment presents itself to me practically on my doorstep. And so, in view of the icy wind whistling through Georgetown, I was delighted to find myself with Friday fun a mere hop, skip and a jump from my front door. Uncork'd Art is a social painting-and-wine event that takes place regularly in Georgetown and normally costs about $40. The price and the paucity of artistic enthusiasm from my lovely wife have hitherto put me off, but for some community-bonding reason, the local salad establishment Sweetgreen offered it to me as one of several free classes they're offering to people signed up to their passport newsletter (they also offered me free thai boxing, iphoneography, and Bollywood dancing...). With my lovely wife out of town, the timing was perfect. I found Uncork'd to be a relaxed, well-run operation. I entered their little studio, grabbed some wine, claimed a stool next to an easel with a picture of a painting attached to it, donned an apron, greeted my friendly fellow artists, and then was essentially talked through how to paint a picture inspired by the picture of a masterpiece on my easel. It's an interesting concept - you don't have to be good at art at all. It's like painting by numbers. The teacher talked the class through each step of making the painting, and it all felt easy (maybe too easy if you're actually good at painting, but you can always go off piste from the instructions). Everyone ended up with a decent painting to take home. And with the wine, music and good chat with adjacent painters, and gratifying pretty much guaranteed decent artistic result, I found it a nice, fun, quirky night out with a really jolly ambience. Glad I discovered it. An excellent Friday night - thanks, Sweetgreen!


In terms of sit-down-and-watch-someone-entertain-me fun, I went to see Tribes at the Studio Theatre on Sunday. This is a play that lives up to the hype - it's one of the best plays I've seen in quite a while. Great performances, sharp, witty dialogue, thought provoking subject matter (growing up deaf in a hearing family), and really nicely staged, particularly the projections on the walls. It's on through February and if you enjoy high quality theatre, you'd be a fool to miss it. And as a Brit, I must also compliment them on their more than tolerable English accents (I still haven't recovered from the horror that was the accents of the Billy Elliot cast at the Kennedy Centre last year...). 


I also went to Appletini last night, a monthly, fairly informal improv show in the basement of Larry's Lounge that I have so far found to be the best improv show in town. Not that I have yet sampled each and every one of them, but still... Most entertaining, and I was particularly excited by being able to buy popcorn to enjoy with the show... 


Speaking of popcorn, the popcorn at Landmark E Street Cinema was one of the best things about the movie The Invisible Woman that I saw on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't a bad film - it was just quite tedious. The pace was sluggish. I couldn't believe it when it finally ended and it wasn't midnight. Not sure you should rush to it unless you are a huge Dickens fan or revel in meandering period pieces. It turns out: I do not.  


Speaking of disappointments, I had been waiting for ages to find out what new bar would take over the old Mie n Yu space in Georgetown, and over the last month or so, I was first wary and then delighted by the Irish pub Ri Ra. I normally don't like the Irish pub thing, but they have done it very nicely and it was a lovely, great-looking relaxed, cool place to hang out with a beer or even a cocktail, with friendly, mostly Irish staff. Until this week when I went in, looking forward to it, and found it had succumbed to one of the things I hate - despise - about bars in Washington: televisions. Why do so many bars consider these essential decor? I wonder: do people of Washington not know they are at a bar unless there is a television? Do bar owners fear nobody will come to their bar if there's not a television? These sports-bar-appropriate eyesores work their inappropriate way into all sorts of potentially lovely non-sports-bars around town, with their sports broadcasts that nobody ever seems to be actually watching, ruining the lighting and ambience of any bar that sports them (ah, inadvertent pun). But I thought Ri Ra, so keen to emulate a real Irish pub, was exempt from their tacky dominance. It seems not. I'm hoping they see the error of their ways and get rid of them... I don't believe I'm alone in this particular peeve. I see Brightest Young Things coincidentally just published an article on non-TV bars. Bookmarked.


And finally, a brunch shout out to Coco Sala - one of my favorite brunch spots in town. That breakfast enchilada and salad I had on Saturday was nothing short of glorious... And they don't have a TV.


What I'm looking forward to in the coming week


Tuesday 28th Jan - It's so difficult to decide which of the many State of the Union parties to attend - or maybe skip them all and go to the Washington City Paper's Best of DC voting party. What's a girl to do... (maybe stay at home and watch Parks and Recreation, since I'm still feeling ill).


Sunday 2nd Feb - Upright Citizens Brigade are performing downstairs at 6th and I and I understand they will be delivering some quite hilarious comedy. I can't wait. 


Monday 3rd Feb - Perfect Liars Club of course! Advance tickets are sold out, but there will be a waiting list at the venue (The Science Club) from somewhere between 6 and 6:15. Line up nicely, dear potential audience. We'll start selling waiting list tickets at 6:45 in order, til we reach capacity. It will of course be the event of the month. See you there!


Planning for the future


The Key Bridge boathouse is selling season passes for the summer - paddle boarding, kayaking etc. I spent ridiculous amounts of money there (for a huge amount of fun) last year so have bought my own season pass already. It's 15% off til the end of January here. 


Also, DC Shorts, one of my very favorite DC film festivals (the other being April's DC International Film Festival) is advertising for people to help choose which films to screen during the festival. Alas you have to be available on particular dates when I have a date with a volcano in Costa Rica, but if you're interested, details here.
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Brit About Town: What's been fun last week in DC - and what's coming up

1/21/2014

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Last week I viewed art in fine style, with a cocktail, a book-making craft session, and a solo skate on a black ice rink. I'm not sure why I'd never been to a Corcoran Uncorked event before - they happen on the third Wednesday of the month - but at only a dollar or two more than normal Corcoran admission, it's a very pleasant evening out. As well as enjoying the drinks and participating in the themed events ('new year's resolutions' in this case - I stayed far from the CrossFit activity option...), you can also roam amongst the art after hours. I'd been meaning to catch An Unkindness, the Mia Feuer exhibition which features said black ice rink. I really like participatory/experiential art as a concept, but other than the novelty of strapping on my skates in an art gallery, I wasn't especially taken with her exhibition. I preferred Alex Prager's Face in the Crowd which is definitely worth a look, but my favorite exhibition was in fact the gallery's new acquisitions which are being displayed til February 9th. 


I've always suspected DC of having a lot of stand up comedy but for some reason have never really found much, other than at DC Improv and occasionally at Sixth and I. Usually the comedy I go to turns out to be improv in disguise. That changed when Brightest Young Things published its extensive January comedy guide and I resolved to get out and see what I could find. On Friday I went to Comedy on the Table at the Velvet Lounge. This semi-annual event is an all-woman stand-up night benefiting various local charities. I really liked the concept, and I enjoyed the show. There was some funny stuff. Including from a disturbingly talented 14 year old, LizaBanks. A cool night. But I was a bit disappointed to find so many of the comediennes were embracing the age-old comedic themes of dating, sex, drugs, and periods. Any suggestions for where I can find stand-up that diversifies to other topics in DC?


On a very different comedic note, I had a surprisingly excellent time down in the rather hidden auditorium of the National Gallery of Art this weekend, watching restored Max Linder silent films, complete with live piano accompaniment, all for free. This so-named cine-concert, which I attended on a whim, was a real delight - completely funny, charming, cool, quirky - and an audience pretty much entirely composed of older people. It's odd - I go to quite a few events at Smithsonian museums, and those run by the Smithsonian Associates, and they always seem to be dominated by a fairly staid older crowd. Granted it's lovely to feel like a young lass, but I'm not quite sure why young (and indeed middle aged) Washington is collectively missing out on these events, and allowing themselves to be somehow confined to the cool yet weirdly segregated Smithsonian At 8 series. Take a look at the NGA's film series coming up - there may be something to tempt you. And the Smithsonian Associates events are here. (I'm currently feeling sad that their cool six-part science series I've been attending is cancelled tonight due to the snow. But that probably means it'll be postponed so there are still three left to attend, if you like that sort of thing).


Finally, despite my complaining last week about the hassle of getting to Politics and Prose for their events, this weekend I was tempted up the hill - Washington City Paper have just published their second annual fiction issue and they had three of the featured authors reading from their Washington-set short stories in the bookstore on Sunday afternoon. In a city skewed to non-fiction writing, it was really quite lovely to sit back and listen to a gay noir story set near Dupont Circle, a tale of a ball game at Meridian Hill Park... They were quite good too. You can read the full stories here. As to how I got there, I walked from Georgetown, most of the way walking along the Glover Archbold trail, which is probably my favorite 3 mile walk/leisurely hike in DC and much recommended for scenic lovely woodsy walking that feels far from the city. As soon as there's a sunny day, I always get tempted to walk this trail. 


In terms of new-ish bars and restaurants, I tried out a couple this week. After the guy working at the Velvet Lounge was very rude to me about how they weren't open at 7pm on Friday (the advertised time for the comedy show), I popped next door to pass half an hour at El Rey. This new bar/Mexican food place is constructed out of containers, ie the things ships use to transport stuff. It's also weirdly partly outside, with a retractable roof and vigorous heaters. And it feels really cool (in a vibe rather than a temperature way). This will clearly be a popular, relaxed and fashionable U Street hang out spot for beers and a few tacos - I really liked the decor and ambience. 


I'm less convinced about Flight Wine Bar in Chinatown - I went there on opening night this weekend and while I really liked the look of the place, there were enough irritants that I won't be returning. First, I think it's misleading to call it a wine bar: everyone there was eating a full meal and I'd have looked awkward going there just for wine. It's clearly a restaurant. Secondly, one hour into opening night, they reported they had "run out" of one of the menu items. Between 5 and 6pm on their first night? Particularly annoying as they didn't tell us til we ordered it, and as vegetarians, there aren't too many alternative options on most menus! Also, $7 for the breadbasket was excessive. It was nice, yes, but it was a breadbasket. But all these issues were tolerable - their main problem was extremely slow, inattentive service. Yes, teething problems perhaps, but every table in the place featured an irritated set of diners, casting each other looks in solidarity as we all worked to get the attention of the waitress. Getting our water refilled was an impossible dream. One item of food took nearly an hour to appear after our order, making us late for a party we were headed to. The manager deducted its cost but otherwise was weirdly unapologetic. For me, service is the key to a good experience. Teething problems are forgivable, especially on opening night, but an unconcerned attitude is a bad sign... So essentially, great look, great wine, good food, but I know I can have a better overall experience in plenty of other places just round the corner... Sorry, Flight Wine Bar. Hopefully they'll improve, but they've already lost this customer.


What I'm looking forward to in the coming week


Thursday 23rd Jan: Capital Pride's Pride Reveal event at the W - I failed to get tickets in advance last year and couldn't get in and bitterly watched Twitter telling me how cool it was. This year I have my tickets in hand and looking forward to a gay time!


Saturday 25th Jan: Tonight is Burns Night, celebrating Scotland's favorite poet, Robert Burns. It's an excuse for donning tartan (plaid), drinking Scotch whisky and drunkenly singing one of his most famous songs, Auld Lang Syne. I can't fit you all in to my house, alas. But as a Scot, I'd be remiss to not tell you get in on a Scottish friend's festivities... If you don't know a friendly Scot, the owner of Shaw's cool new whisky bar Southern Efficiency went to college in Scotland and assures me they are all set for Burns Night fun. They have 8 Scotch whiskies plus more on order specially for the night - and a special cocktail called the Bobby Burns! Fingers crossed they'll invest in some haggis too. (I see there are also various formal-sounding Burns Night events you could get in on, mostly in Alexandria, like these here and here.)

Monday 27th Jan: Of the comedy improv nights I've been to, one of my favourites is probably Appletini, free downstairs at Larry's Lounge on 18th and T. 
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Perfect Liars Club brings you a new blog: Brit About Town

1/14/2014

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It is sad but true that Perfect Liars Club happens but once a month. And yet there are so many other days in the month calling out to be occupied in fine DC style. Welcome to your once-a-week-ish blog on Brit About Town, aka Stuff Layla Gets Up To in Washington DC. Hopefully it will give you some new going out inspiration, or be at least a little entertaining. 


It has been a fairly quiet start to 2014 for me in terms of storytelling nights. Speakeasy DC had a 'top shelf' event of their top stories which sold out before I managed to remember to buy a ticket - though they do normal shows on the second Tuesday of the month. Not to mention a special Valentine's show. If you think the epitome of romance would be hearing how my wife and I nearly didn't get together, I will be performing, so you are in luck. Get tickets for it here to avoid trying to get them at the last minute - and failing like I did last week! 


I did get along to an improv night though, last weekend. I was trying to get a table at Rose's Luxury up at Barracks Row (much the best restaurant in DC in my opinion, but sadly they don't take reservations and there was a wait of three and a half hours at 6pm on a Saturday night!) so since I was in the area, I went to see Perfect Liars alumnus Pedro perform at Dojo Comedy at The Fridge. Which despite its name was mostly improv, and while I tend to find improv quite patchy as a spectator (though a lot of fun to do - I took a class at Washington Improv Theater last year, and it is of course hilarious every time my dear wife performs), one of the troupes, named Breakfast, was particularly funny - look out for them. 


On the subject of long waits for food, after being foiled by huge lines at new-ish 14th Street Spanish restaurant Barcelona, and lured by great hype about their food, wife and I determinedly turned up at 5:05pm on Monday and finally scored a table. Only to find food that was good, but not life changing. Nice ambience, but I prefer the Spanish food at  each of Jaleo, Estadio and Boqueria myself. (Not that I go out for dinner a lot. Ahem.) We've also been checking out some of the new hipster bars around the 7th and T corner - really like the large beer bar Right Proper - a nice combination of hip, not pretentious, cool ambience, and this old lady is able to get a seat!


On a more daytime note, I thought the Women of Vision exhibition at the National Geographic was a delightful, diverse and really interesting photography exhibition showcasing their female photographers' work, and a great way to spend $11 and an hour of your time. It's on til March 9th. The same ticket will get you into A New Age of Exploration which I went to a couple of months ago as part of a Brightest Young Things evening event, and it is brilliant if you have any sort of geography geek tendencies at all. I wish I were an explorer... In terms of art viewing, I was less dazzled by the Van Gogh show at the Phillips Collection which I felt was one for the hardcore Van Gogh fans, though interesting. If you think you'd enjoy seeing a few very similar paintings by Van Gogh of the same thing it's on til February 2nd, $12. I was intrigued by the concept but not much explanation provided, alas. National Geographic wins the curation prize here, in my opinion. Though I did have some tasty coffee cake in the Tryst cafe inside the Phillips afterwards (NB you don't need to buy tickets to enjoy the cafe). 


I was also really delighted to catch Sue Monk Kidd at Sixth and I synagogue, in a Politics and Prose author event. One of my new year's resolutions is to increase the number of cool literary events and readings I go to, but Washington never seems to offer up as much as I'd like - other than Politics and Prose which has author events every day. Sadly they're mostly up at the bookshop which, while lovely, is a bit of a trek for a girl without a car. I'd enjoyed Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. This week, she published a new book, The Invention of Wings, about the abolition of the slave trade told through the eyes of a young girl and the slave she is given for her 11th birthday. Sometimes going to hear an author speak about a book you haven't read can be frustrating, but Sue Monk Kidd was one of the best author speakers I've ever heard. I was completely compelled, and resolved to (a) read her book, and (b) keep a closer eye on other cool stuff happening at Sixth and I. 


And last night I went to Living Social's weekly Tuesday evening Adult Spelling Bee. I once went to a brilliant spelling bee at Politics and Prose (hoping they do it again sometime) but this one was less challenging with words like khaki and lecture... Not that I can mock as I accidentally misspoke and lost! Everyone who wanted to participate got to do so, and it cost $5 including a beer. A nice venue and concept, but not sure I feel the need to return every week - especially as they apparently use the same words.


Finally, the movies I've been to see this year, in order of how much I enjoyed them: Saving Mr Banks (5/5), American Hustle (5/5), Her (5/5), Walter Mitty (4/5), Inside Llewyn Davis (4/5), Anchorman 2 (3/5), August, Osage Country (2/5). 


It's not all going out - I'm participating in a challenge to read 100 books in 2014. So if you're not a going out person, fear not: my sofa-based book blog may be for you! Check out Reading Shoes.
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    What is this blog?

    Every Friday, Perfect Liars Club MC Layla laboriously curates a list of all the coolest English-accessible things happening in Tokyo for the next week for your delight and entertainment. If you live in Tokyo and like attending great events, you had better sign up.

    How to suggest an event to be included

    Tweet @perfectliarstky or email Layla with details and a link.

    What sort of events does this listings guide include?

    ​Recommendations are biased towards things Layla personally enjoys, like theatre, cinema, sciencey talks, book things, storytelling, comedy, art and random quirky activities.

    Come to my event, Layla!

    You can email Layla to invite her to something cool.

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