Here are the details, for the uninitiated:

Right Round - the 80s alt-pop dance par-tay with dj lil’e
The Black Cat - backstage
1811 14th St NW . Friday, June 23 . 10pm - 2am
$9

It’s usually a great, crazy time, no matter the weather - so put on your dancing shoes and get over there tonight!

Hope to see you there!

Eating croutons without barfing is a beautiful thing, y’all.

Since the recent discovery of my wheat and gluten intolerance, and with a husband who is allergic to rice, you can probably appreciate the delicacy (pardon the pun) of trying to find a restaurant that won’t send us both to the hospital. It actually hasn’t been so bad, although I could kill him for tauting me with the bread basket… He had a hankering for fried oysters last night, so we headed over to Hanks to try our luck. It was packed as always, but we had the good fortune of being a small enough party to get a seat outside right away.

All in all, it was a great experience. We’d been there once before in my former days as a gluten consumer, so I can vouch firsthand for the delicate, non-greasy yumminess of breaded and fried items (however, I would not recommend the vomiting after - thank god for doctors). A quick mention of my issue to the waiter ensured that nary a puff of flour would taint my dinner. We both enjoyed the grilled cuttlefish with spinach and raisins to start, and while I enjoyed some of the Bay’s finest softshells, sauteed with an apple reduction, Andy munched out on fried oysters (and the ironic little goldfish crackers they bring to the table, that jerk…). For those of you who like eating critters of the 4-legged variety, burgers and steaks are also a possibility - and for those who don’t dig on meat whatsoever, there’s also a super rokkin’ looking veg plate and sides like steamed asparagus, mac and cheese, or onion rings. The menu changes daily, so there are always new offerings in addition to the standard fare. Hank’s doesn’t have a dessert menu - however the waiter produced a little bowl filled with broken pieces of dark chocolate at the end of our meal - um, that’ll work…

Service was wonderfully paced and pleasant - and of course the 17th and Q corner is perfect for all of your people-watching needs.

I’ll keep posting my other allergy-free restaurant findings as they emerge - but even for you enviable humans who can eat the grains and the glutens, Hank’s is a lovely little spot whereby you can get your food on.

…one clever editor, with a computer and a sense of humor, turned horror on it’s head…

Anyway, I took a series of 130 - 140 pictures, of which I decided to use 121. After retouching and resizing them to 5″ x 7″, the process to upload them was super super easy, as my laptop has an “order prints” wizard that’s directly connected to the former Ofoto’s Web site. It took a few hours to upload all the pics, but I could still surf the net and work on my laptop during the process.

I expected it to take a couple of days to print - but not so! Even though I finished up last night around midnight, when I got in this morning there was an email waiting for me that my order was complete and is shipping out today! Woohoo!

At first it struck me as being kind of brilliant - like a real life Robin Hood or something. But then, I’m guessing the victim in this scenario is likely no King Richard.

Physically, it’s hard to tell how old he is - although the all-one-color dyed hair, eyebrows and goatee, and the too-tight skin give him away a bit. This was my 2nd time seeing him, and I have to say the man can MOVE. He does do some kung fu-like moves that are a little bit unnerving, but aside from that he’s all over the place with the get-down throughout the entire show. The man is a dancing machine with a voice like a sparkly, vibrating mac truck, and an almost constant flow of almost creepy double entendres - both during and between songs.

Apparently his son started managing him some years back, and got him more nightclub/younger generation exposure, which makes the audience thoroughly entertaining. Grandmothers, mothers and daughters alike (oh, and their often-weary partners) were jumping, screaming and dancing like maniacs - it was certainly one of the more upbeat crowds I’ve seen in a long time. Women of all ages twirled sexy underwear over their heads and threw said underwear at him throughout the show - some pals of mine who work at 9:30 were working the stage at the show and said that the panties of people with bad aim kept smacking them in the head all night long - but not in a good way. Their stories of the ‘flasher’ women (of all ages also… yikes…) were most entertaining, and probably not particularly appropriate for a public forum, but anyway…

The best part about TJ (yeah, I said TJ, what of it?) was that he TOTALLY doesn’t take himself seriously. He laughs at his own goofiness, grins and lecherously raises his eyebrows whenever he’s being particularly ‘naughty’, like a funny version of your icky uncle. He played a mix of old hits like It’s Not Unusual and What’s New Pussycat and more modern stuff like Kiss by Prince, but sadly didn’t play my fave song - Venus. You know, the one Bananarama made famous in 1989 or so… Anyway, that man has tons of life left in him, so no doubt I’ll see him again.

“Edie” is a one [wo]man show - and thank goodness, cause I wouldn’t know where to look if there was more than one person onstage. [S]he came out from behind a large projector screen dressed in a black glittery minidress and (in the case of this show) blonde 60s-style pixie cut wig. Backed by impressively-edited projections of popular films and tunes/backup vocals from a laptop, Edie cleverly and hilariously ranted and sang about Martin Sheen, Sigourney Weaver, Mary Kate Olsen, Robert Downey Junior - you name it. It was an impressive release from the usual DC fare, and absolutely worth checking out if you see shows coming up in future.

Fast forward a couple of weeks.

Friend comes home, sees the mugger near his house, calls the cops, mugger is arrested - you may think, “wow, cool, justice served.” Right? To that I say, not so! NOW the mugger kid’s friends figure out where my pal and his wife live, and spend pretty much every hour of every day threatening them. Needless to say, they’re moving.

This also happened to some friends I had in college in Baltimore - they fought back against a mugger, used mace, the whole 9 yards. Unfortunately, they also ran into their house in plain sight of the guy, who then spent the next few weeks (until they moved) hanging out and threatening them.

Because of all this (and my own fairly terrifying mugging a few years ago), I’ve started carrying a fake wallet. We all have expired credit cards, old blockbuster cards, college IDs, stuff of that nature - I just threw them into a cheap wallet with $20, and carry my “real” stuff elsewhere on my person. Haven’t had to use it yet, but will let you know how it goes if I ever do!

Guy: (yelling) It’s like Frogger out here this morning!

Girl: (blank stare)

Guy: You know… Frogger…?

Girl: (same expression, head slightly cocked now)

Guy: You know, like… the game? (pleading) Don’t you remember…?

Um, Guy, my guess is that nobody - NOBODY - is going to think that “Frogger” is anything BUT “the game”. Perhaps you likes ‘em too young…??? Anyway, just thought the pleading tone (especially considering the subject matter) was worth sharing…