03.02 - cause baby now we got bad blood
what’s going on in d.c.
Friday: Tonight and tomorrow night, female comedians take the stage at The Kennedy Center. Tonight’s shows feature Natasha Leggero, Liza Treyger, and Brittany Carney (7:30 pm and 9:30 pm)
Saturday: In advance of Nowruz, Iranian New Year, Smitty’s Bar on U St. hosts a pop-up featuring Iranian confections, plants, and flowers (1-6 pm)
Sunday: The Tallest Man On Earth performs his folk music at 9:30 Club (7 pm)
All weekend: Catch Me if You Can premieres at Arena Stage tonight, a musical based on the 2002 movie. Shows continue through April 17th. | Professional Women’s Hockey Players play four games at the Ballston Iceplex this weekend as the players look to form a full pro hockey league. | It’s the last weekend to visit the Renwick Gallery for a few months - the gallery will close Monday to prepare for its next exhibit.
Looking ahead: Hip-hop phenom Tyler, the Creator and his Call Me if You Get Lost tour stops at Capital One Arena on Monday.
Washingtonian very helpfully compiled a list of concerts/festivals throughout the summer worth bookmarking.
let’s talk food and drinks
my weekly best bite: Bang Bang Broccoli at Planta
NoMa’s Red Bear Brewing celebrates its three-year anniversary this weekend by giving away 300 pints of craft beer + other anniversary events.
A number of D.C. area restaurants and bars are fundraising for Ukraine throughout the weekend.
New breakfast and brunch options! Planta brunch in Bethesda looks like the move.
looking ahead: another popular NYC bakery and café heads to D.C. - Maman announced plans to expand to Bethesda Row, Georgetown, and Union Market this year. Their cookies look particularly delicious.
what’s on our minds?
Turns out people in D.C. aren’t sports betting as much as projected? Or, at least not through the citywide app, GambetDC. The D.C. Lottery recently reported that they expect to bring in $1.5M in revenue in 2022 - a significant drop from the $20M initially estimated. Not helping the app’s revenue - it was down the day of the Super Bowl (the Black Friday of all sports betting). Some city officials, such as Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, are pushing for D.C. to open up sports betting to other third-party apps, such as DraftKings or FanDuel.
Quick links to other weekly #goodreads:
Brandon Stanton’s Empire of Empathy - per Intelligencer, “How Humans of New York became a one-man philanthropy machine.”
Why Everyone Wants To Hang Out At The Mall — Again - per Refinery29, “In 2022, however, multi-brand spaces are making a comeback. Shopping in malls, while still below pre-COVID levels, is on the rise again, with Black Friday shopping (the Olympics for us mallrats) last year up 83% from the year before. The experience is also making the news: Rihanna just opened her first Savage X Fenty retailer in a Vegas mall. Meanwhile, Amazon, the online behemoth, is opening Amazon Style at The Americana at Brand Mall in L.A., banking on boosted and, frankly, bored consumers ready to spend.”
Venus and Serena Williams on Their Own Terms- per Harper’s Bazaar, “The tale of Venus and Serena Williams has been told many times. Now they get to be the ones to tell it.”
‘Spaghetti Legs,’ Brain Fog, And No Cure In Sight: Locals On What It’s Like To Live With Long COVID - per DCist, “For some, [long COVID] symptoms are so severe that they’ve had to quit their jobs: Too fatigued and exhausted to work, they’re left to navigate debt and mounting medical bills without an income. Everyday tasks like showering, grocery shopping, or even completing a jigsaw puzzle can become laborious feats.”
what are we watching/reading?
The Dropout on Hulu. Continuing on my (and apparently lots of Hollywood producers’) favorite theme - scammers - The Dropout is a limited series about now-convicted scammer Elizabeth Holmes’ rise to big league scamming. For the uninitiated (is that anyone at this point?), Holmes began Theranos as a Silicon Valley tech company designed to make blood draws easier and hit all of the tech buzzwords on the way to receiving millions in investments. But, unsurprisingly?, the tech didn’t actually work.
The Batman in theaters. A dark reboot of the Batman franchise opens in theaters this weekend - Robert Pattinson stars in the noir and grim take on the superhero. So far, reviews are very positive - 85% critics and 93% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.