For those who try to read WIHDC over their morning coffee, my apologies. I've been a bit sick this morning, so here's an abbreviated edition of the day's news.Ben Ali dies, Ben's Chili Bowl trends on Twitter. The news of Ben Ali's death spread across a mostly broken Twitter yesterday, causing "Ben's Chili Bowl" to be a top tweeted term. A friend of mine who lives in Canada even mentioned it to me, though false rumors that the restaurant was closing were also spreading. Mike DeBonis at the City Paper had a good piece yesterday about what Ben's stands for in the DC social/political scene.
Don't bother using Metrorail this weekend. Last month we dealt with limited Yellow/Blue line service to Virginia over the Labor Day weekend. This month, we have limited service over the Columbus Day weekend. Metro did give us plenty of warning, but far less people have Monday off this time around. I know Metro needs to do a lot of work all around the system, so holiday weekends are preferable. This is going to be a pain in the ass, though, for anyone who has to work on Monday anywhere near Southwest.
With the word of DC legends Jawbox reuniting, one last push for Cello player. The classic DC band lead by J. Robbins will be playing the Jimmy Kimmel show on December 8. You can see more about this over at the City Paper. J. Robbins also helped Alexandria Rock Cellist Gordon Withers record his forthcoming album. WTOP ran a feature today on Withers' efforts to crowdfund the production of the album. We mentioned his efforts here a while back. Check out his project and if you want, pre-order a copy of the album.
Rash of cab robberies in Northeast. Police are searching for a man they say is responsible for a serious string of cab robberies in Northeast. What's amazing is that in two of these cases the man also stole the cabs. WJLA-TV has a photo of the suspect, who also may have robbed the Lowest Price gas station on 12th Street NE. Unrelated, there was also a shootout in Northeast, in the 500 block of Edgewood St. NE. A woman was shot, and then an armed Special Police Offcer returned fire. The woman is in critical condition as of the last update.
Apologies for the brevity and lack of humor. It's a beautiful day out, if you aren't sick or swamped in work, go outside and enjoy it.
Ben's Chili Bowl is not the only restaurant in DC. To pretend that it is the only restaurant that represents DC is a farce.
ReplyDeleteBen Ali is not from DC- he was from North Carolina- and he proudly told everyone this.
The hype and political correctness surrounding this place- as though it is some kind of icon- and the property tax breaks that they have received from DC- it is simply outrageous. Many other small businesses and restaurants have gone under w/o the help of the DC government- which upholds Ben's as some kind of "official" restaurant. This is sad- especially when one considers the war that has been waged by the DC government against small businesses and those w/o deep pockets in this corrupt city.