Today’s “Pearls Before Swine” strip by Stephan Pastis perfectly portrays my reaction the first time I ever heard about spinning.

Modeled after a traditional Italian cafe, La Tomate Caffè will be opening this Friday, July 25 as one of a number of changes for La Tomate over the next year or so.

Open from breakfast to late-night, The Caffè will serve brioche and sweets, espresso, coffee and fresh-squeezed juices for breakfast, artisanal-cut domestic and Italian charcuterie, assortments of cheeses, mozzarella varieties and light-fare. A vast array of packaged homemade gastro products, including fresh, signature sauces and soups as well as Italian delicatessen treats, cocktails, wine and beer will be available all day.

Last night, we were given a taste of the new offerings and there weren’t any disappointing items. When I next visit, I know I’ll be torn between the Shrimp Salad with Sliced Melon and the Tramezzino “Letizia” with its truffle-infused spread of prosciutto and ricotta. It makes me wish I worked closer to Dupont so I’d be able to add this as a lunch option. Then again, with the late night hours, it might make a nice alternative to the bookstore cafe closer to the circle. Especially with what some might consider the best part: dessert.

I’m not really a big sweets or dessert person… with one exception: cheesecake. Maybe it’s the influence of The Golden Girls, but there is something about a late-night Nigella-style fridge raid on that pale yellow, golden crusted treasure that can’t be matched. La Tomate Caffè’s homemade ricotta cheesecake, flavored with sambucca definitely hits the spot, and for the chocolate lovers there’s a homemade chocolate cake made with almond flour and cocoa powder, both desserts are gluten-free if that’s how you get down.

And the icing on the dessert cake… that isn’t cake icing, but is something even better to go with dessert. Though now I’m thinking of a “dessert cake”, would that be cake with even more cake on top of it as icing? Hm. But I digress, to enhance not only the dessert but the cafe experience as a whole, La Tomate has partnered with illy for their coffee and espresso drinks at the Caffe. I am far from being a coffee snob, but outside of locally-owned smaller coffeehouses, establishments serving illy–often partnered with great food–are still able provide that hand-crafted coffee experience at venues that may not be 100% devoted to worshipping the bean.

All in all, I’m happy to see La Tomate expanding in this direction and encourage anyone who may have written them off to give them a visit to check out the new digs and new bites. Again, the grand opening for La Tomate Caffè will be this Friday, July 25th and they will be offering up some complimentary tastings and reduced price specials all day.

The multi-media show is complete with live and recorded music, projected video, photos, and animation. The show stands out not only for its story, which speaks of Potterâ€s real-life experiences as a world-traveling, busking street performer in the High Street Circus, but also for its use of digital technology. Sound systems, video projectors, screens, amps, and laptops are rare at fringe shows because of the restricted set-up and set-down times. However, with years of experience in the art of performance, Potter uses it all in his digital storytelling show, using the set-up as part of the performance. Despite his years of practice, how he “juggles” the wiring, adds to the showâ€s suspense.

Having been on stage–and on one occasion having built a good portion of the set–I’d prefer the simpler the better, so setting up his show every time with who-knows-what kind of facilities gets major props¹ from me.

Some video teasers of the show can be found on the show’s website. One of the showâ€s highlights is when he describes living in a beer vat in San Francisco. The vat had no windows and his closest neighbors were punk rockers called the Vat Rats.

As I said before, I’m a little late in getting out info about the festival and the shows, so check out the program, make a plan and grab some tickets.

With a running time of about an hour, The Road to High Street will be hosted at The Warehouse Theater (645 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC) on July 10th at 7pm, July 12th at 3:30pm, July 15th at 8pm, July 17th at 10pm, and July 19th at 2:30pm.

Note: I’m a day late getting to this post, the festival started yesterday and tickets are on sale now. So if you’re interested in a show, get on that.

Dracula. A Love Story.

Dracula, street name Vlad Tepes, is alive and flourishing in Washington, DC. The ancient predator feels right at home among K Street lobbyists.

For dinner, he can dine on any of the fresh kills provided by his butler Renfield.

Awash in a field of plenty, Dracula has one problem: his beloved bride, Mina, is dying and his sights are set on Lucy, a beautiful but bored graduate student.

Written by: Tim Treanor. Directed by: Christopher Henley and Jay Hardee.

It certainly seems to have all the classic elements of a Dracula story, and it also promises a tribute to “The Hunger”² and other Dracula films. Besides, who better to be a beltway bloodsucker than Vlad the Impaler? Could probably teach Karl Rove and Dick Cheney a thing or two about devouring the beating hearts of your enemies…

Running time is about 90 minutes and it’s at Mountain – Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave NW.

Performances are: July 12 at 3:45pm, July 18 at 10:30pm, July 20 at 6:15pm,
July 24 at 8:15pm and July 26 at 10:45pm. Tickets available online and at the venue.

• Unremarkable neck.
• Unremarkable study. Specifically, the subcutaneous abnormal soft tissue seen on the regional CT is no longer present.
• No evidence of metastatic disease in the chest, abdomen or pelvis.
• No scan evidence of metabolically active tumor.

Other highlights note that I’ve been getting these scans on a somewhat regular basis since May 2010, which lines up with my rather informal records and I’m getting a lot better than I thought I’d ever need to be at reading medical reports.

But all medical jargon aside, the long and the short of it is that as it stands right now, I’m in the clear. So while I hesitate to use the word remission just yet, let’s at least start the clock and hope that my scans continue to remain just as unremarkable for a long while, or forever. Y’know, whichever comes first.

• Reverb, July 20, 2014
  Enjoy the melodic sounds of Reverb as they take you on an a cappella musical journey! Presented in collaboration with Washington Performing Arts.

• Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, July 27, 2014
  Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir showcases uniquely talented young voices in their own distinctive style of high energy performances. Presented in collaboration with Washington Performing Arts. This presentation has been made possible by the generous support of Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated.

• CityDance Ensemble, August 3, 2014
  Join CityDance Ensemble as they explore dances from around the world in their presentation of “Dancing In One Language.” Presented in collaboration with Washington Performing Arts.

• Washington Performing Arts Summers Steps with Step Afrika!, August 10, 2014
  Step to the Beat! Students will perform along with Step Afrika!, the nation’s leading professional touring step troupe. Presented in collaboration with Washington Performing Arts. This presentation has been made possible by the generous support of Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated.

Mine, in most stations, is 4 minutes¹. Usually just enough time to walk through the faregate, down the escalator and make it to my chosen spot on the platform. And most importantly, enough time to not have to run. My biggest issue is the placement of the PIDS. I appreciate that if they were outside the station, they’d get damaged by weather and/or vandalism, but I always struggle with whether I should “fast walk” heading into the station to see when the next train is and if I need to break into a run or not.

And based on my observations of others at non-rush hour times, I’m not alone. If I’m reading or listening to something good, I don’t mind waiting another 6-10 minutes for the next train, but when it’s just 1-2 minutes away, there’s always that inner voice saying “Go on, run, you don’t want to be standing around with these yahoos for another 15 minutes, do you?” Sometimes I’ll even sacrifice grabbing my usual car just to catch a train, then often immediately regret it when I get to my destination. However, seeing new faces is always nice.

Of course, the degree of difficulty is slightly easier for me on workdays because I live and work very close to stations. I can monitor incoming trains from my couch (or desk) and walk over to the station–except for those times when WMATA lies, which are often. But it’s still nice, those moments when I’ve timed everything more or less perfectly and can casually saunter into the station.

Seriously though, I pray to the deities of public transit that I can just have 4 minutes to slap down my farecard and get to the train. So what’s your number?

WHAT: 100th Anniversary Celebration of intercity motor coach travel. The celebration will include photo and video opportunities of several historic motorcoach vehicles (see details below). Brief remarks from notable figures in the transportation industry will also be given.

On display at U.S. DOT from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and available for photos/video will be:

• 1914 Hupmobile – The Hupmobile was the first Greyhound bus ever and was used to transport iron miners from Hibbing to Alice, MN.
• 1931 Mack Bus – Built by Mack Truck Company, this bus included amenities such as mohair seats with horsehair stuffing and side curtains to keep out roadside dust and glaring sunlight.
• 1937 Supercoach – Built by Yellow Coach, this Supercoach was the first intercity coach to feature an all-metal body and engine in the rear. It was hailed as the ultimate in bus design at the time.
• 1954 Scenicruiser – This Scenicruiser was the first bi-level motor coach, seating 10 passengers on the driver level and 33 on the second level. Notable features included 90 percent glare-resistant glass and air conditioning.
• Modern Greyhound Bus – This 2014 Prevost Model X3-45 seats 50 people and features leather seats, extra legroom, free Wi-Fi, power outlets and three-point seat belts. The bus features the latest environmental technology with a low-emission engine and clean-burning fuel.
• Mobile Museum Bus – The inside of this bus features vintage driver uniforms, signage, driver pins and badges, other memorabilia and a historical timeline wall that has touchscreen monitors where people can view videos such as vintage ads, movie clips and other videos from history.

If you’re a bus–I mean, “motor coach”–nerd, hit up the Green Line (Or Circulator from Union Station) and check it out.

It reminds me of when I first moved to DC and would see people placing items, sometimes as big as a couch, on the sidewalk outside their homes. Sure enough, by the end of the day that stuff was gone, hefted into someone’s car or truck. I’ve used freecycle to get rid of things, but this idea of just putting stuff on the street and leaving it to the whims of fate? I could never get with that.

I hope whatever my neighbor’s plans are work out and either someone carts this stuff off for them, otherwise at some point the building staff will see it and leave a nasty-gram on their door. Either outcome is fine, so long as I don’t have to worry about tripping over the stuff on my way home from a day’s carousing.

It reminded me of an incident prior to one of my usual epic brunches. I’d decided to take the bus from near my place rather than walking halfway to the restaurant since the bus was only about five or so minutes away. Four minutes later, as I’m standing right next to the bus stop sign, a young woman walks up, keeping the respectable distance that most city dwellers seem to subscribe to, and I didn’t take much notice of it. Multiple buses service that stop, so she could have been waiting for another one.

As the bus pulls up, I glance through the windows to note that it isn’t crowded (ie: there will be seats enough for all) and approach the door. I hesitated because I saw the driver stand up to assist a rider in a wheelchair in getting off the bus, which would mean we’d all need to stand back while the fold-out ramp extended itself.

The young woman approached and stepped ahead of me, presumably to get on the bus first, so I said “Wait.” to let her know that we couldn’t get on just then. She looks inside the bus, realizes what’s happening and then looks to me saying, “Oh. I thought you were just being a gentleman.” Which, in my mind, sarcastically translated to, “Oh. Even though you were waiting here ahead of me and I’ve said not a single word to you, I assumed you would let me on the bus first because I’m a lady and you’re a dude.” And we both laughed it off, my chuckles probably a bit less sincere than hers. After the passenger had disembarked and the ramp folded itself back in, she looks to me and says with a laugh, “Oh, after you.” in a way that somehow made me feel as though I was the one who’d made some egregious error in manners, rather than her stepping in front of me when I was clearly first in line.

I believe in kindness, politeness, even friendly neighbor types of actions, but this weird chivalry idea that even though I’d been waiting longer, I should let any female ahead of me just because of XX vs XY? No thanks. I’ve always thought the modern concept of chivalry is, to put it lightly, fucked up. It seems easier to treat everyone kindly, open doors for anyone behind you, offer a seat to anyone who appears to need it, help anyone with their bags if they’re fumbling for their keys, etc. But the odd thing isn’t that I see men doing this for women on a daily basis, but more and more, I see women who appear to expect this behavior from men. Which, again, makes me think the whole system has gotten a bit fucked up.

The line between manners and misogyny seems to have gotten blurry.

Male co-workers will stand like stone statues in an elevator, waiting to let female ones off the car–and blocking everyone else from exiting, even when it’s clear the women aren’t exiting at that floor. Female co-workers will approach a double door, but if either door is opened, they’ll assume it’s being opened for them rather than reaching for the other door. On more than one occasion, I’ve bumped into someone who assumed I was opening a door for them–from the other side, mind you.

Of course, it’s not all people. Seems you have to say that nowadays before someone else says it in all caps. But like that guy who got nailed to a tree said, wouldn’t it be great to just be nice to people for a change? Or… alternatively, don’t be nice to people. Your choice. Which still feels like a better option than feeling locked into a seriously outdated set of social mores that don’t seem to be helping and instead just reinforcing the idea that women need to be helped and protected and men looked to as the suppliers of such.

In any case, “Good night, good luck, win awards.”

Sorry about that last bit, I’ve been re-reading a lot of Douglas Adams lately and it’s starting to bleed through. Hopefully everyone had a great holiday weekend and no one made you feel like crap for not opening a door or giving up your seat.