My Nationals hat arrived today.

Awesome!

How many days til Pitchers and Catchers report?

If you are into Rock music at all, it’s kind of impossible to dislike The Pixies. If you are on the DC music scene, it’s kind of impossible to not notice that The Pixies are playing 3 sold out shows at the DAR Constitution Hall this week.

What is easy to miss however, is that Ticketmaster has been releasing a small number of tickets to be sold at physical Ticketmaster locations only on the day of each show. So if you’re dying to get into one of the shows and still need tickets, it is worth a shot going down to Tower and trying your luck.

I did that while in Philly this weekend and ended up with 8th row center at the “sold out” show. And man was it soooo rocking.

Oh My God! The Isis set last night at the Black Cat was absolutely mind-blowing. That may have been the very best set by a band to hit DC all year. Have you ever heard a performance so powerful you had to sit down? Me either. But last night, geez, that was the one.

we know most dc’ers aren’t from the area, so getting to experience a little bit of home is a nice treat. enter: state societies. i’m originally from chicago and just recently found out about the illinois state society. illinois’ is actually the oldest one, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. i attended the anniversary reception and it was a hoot. it’s basically a group of people who are from or have some tie to illinois — and that’s about it. but it was enough to make for an interesting evening.

amongst hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, i witnessed a gathering of politicians, business people, socialites, innocent by-standers and a photo op of past state society presidents — some of whom are in their 80′s now. they also talked about the cherry blossom “princesses” — college girls elected to represent each state and participate in dc’s festivities. oh, and the big upcoming night is the inauguration. most of the state societies will hold a ball on the night of the inauguration — the most popular one by far this year will be texas’ “black tie and boots” ball. a pretty cool excuse to get dressed up and dance the night away (if you didn’t get your fill during new years).

i’m sending mixed messages — slightly sarcastic, but so far the state societies look like fun. if you want to celebrate st. patrick’s day chicago-style, then the illinois state society is where it’s at. if you’re from minnesota, how could you pass up a traditional walleye pike dinner? hawai’in — a luau? louisianan — a crawfish boil? and many more.

check out what your state society is up to (including dc, american samoa, guam, puerto rico, and the usvi).

Lately DC has been blessed with visits by a cornicopia of great guitar concerts. A veritable Thanksgiving feast of Ministry, Helmet, Slayer, and Muse. All pretty big name shows, that should satisfy even the most hungry Hard Rock fan.

But when it comes to guitars when is a Hard Rock fan ever really full? There is always room for seconds.

Tonight at the Black Cat we are lucky enough to have two amazing but lesser known guitar acts paying a holiday visit from the North. So why not come down and join them for dinner?

First up is Dysrythmia from Philadelphia, a tight trio specializing in off-beat jams featuring, you guessed it, kick-ass guitar playing.

Then for dessert there is Isis out of Boston, a monster jam guitar band that blends Sabbath Riffs and Shoegazer wash to a dazzling effect.

The show is only $10 and with these two acts, there is no way you’ll leave hungry.

This just in…

The Pentagon metro station has just been evacuated due to some undisclosed emergency. No word yet on why (ie., another metro accident or something more serious).

I’ll keep you all posted when I hear more.

According to the WMATA Site and DC Alerts, the Pentagon Metro Station and Bus Terminal is closed to investigate a potential Hazmat situation:

The Pentagon station is closed to investigate a potential hazmat situation. Hazmat experts are responding to the scene. No trains are permitted to go through the station. Trains are turning back at Arlington Cemetery and Pentagon City.

The Pentagon Bus Transit Center is also temporarily closed. Free bus shuttle service is being established to take Bus Transit Center customers Pentagon City to catch their buses there.

I so love living in this town sometimes…

[Update] via DC Alerts:
The Pentagon METRO Station has been cleared for re-opening. It was determined that cleaning solvents triggered the chemical sensors. The station will be under normal operating conditions momentarily.

Abdelhaleem Ashqar has been certified as a candidate in the upcoming Palestinian elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat.

What does this have to do with DC?

Ashqar will be campaigning from Alexandria, VA, where he’s currently under house arrest on racketeering charges.

Major League Baseball’s owners have voted to approve the move of the Expos to Washington, DC for the 2005 season, over the objection of Orioles’ owner (and chief sour-grapes consumer) Peter Angelos. Full Season ticket packages are currently on sale, and single-game and partial-season packages are expected to go on sale early in the new year.

RFK’s already under renovation for the start of the season in April. Spring training tickets haven’t been announced, but with other teams beginning to announce their ticket information for the Grapefruit and Cactus league games, it’s just a matter of time. Hooray for baseball!

We’re up for a Weblog Award! Get out that voting mouse pointer and get to work! You can vote once a day until December 12th. No reason we shouldn’t finish in the top five!