Happy Hour at Oby Lee Winery

Oby Lee Winery and Coffee Roastery is a colorful and friendly new establishment off of Washington Blvd. Taking over the the retail space that used to be Quizzno's, it offers Clarendon a different type of venue. It combies a bakery, coffe shop, a self serve wine fountain, and wine shop.

Oby is now offereing happy hour specials Monday through Thursday, 3-6pm. Specials include $12 Sangria pitchers, $5 margaritas and $5 mojitos.

Huge CD release event at Iota tonight

Iota is hosting the CD release event "Music Still Happens Here" tonight at 7pm. This is a great opportunity to see SIXTEEN different artists in one night for only a $10 cover. Local favorites including Brittany Jean and Derek Evry and many more will be filling the stage with hours of great music.

7:00PM - Matt Tarka
7:15PM - Addieville
7:30PM - Derek Anderson
7:45PM - Kate Moran Band
8:00PM - Johari
8:15PM - Mr. Forge
8:30PM - Brittany Jean
8:45PM - GO
9:00PM - Sweet Interference
9:15PM - Wes Tucker & The Skillets
9:30PM - Norman Rockwell
9:45PM - Ditched By Kate
10:00PM - Ted Hovis & The Stolen Cameros
10:15PM - Classified Frequency
10:30PM - Irresponsible
10:45PM - Derek Evry

Grateful Red free wine tasting tonight

Screwtop Wine Bar's sister store, Grateful Red, is having a free wine tasting tonight from 5 - 8pm. The new wine shop, located across from Whole Foods in Clarendon, is focusing on three Oregon wines tonight.

Grateful Red is in a soft opening phase now, so they are continuing to grow their selection. By Fall they should be stocked with anything you could ever want or need from a wine and gift perspective.

Screwtop Wine Bar "Born In The USA" class



This Saturday July 21, Screwtop Wine Bar is offering a "Born In The USA" wine tasting class. The event, offered at 1 or 3:30pm, promises to educate wine lovers in the lesser known American wines. The class is $40 and you can RSVP to save a spot to AmandaP@screwtopwinebar.com.

The WeatherVanes at Iota Friday

The WeatherVanes are coming to Iota Club and Cafe this Friday, July 20th. The four-member Americana/Roots Rock band will be showcasing their songs and pushing the limits, as well as being joined by the Carolina based folk-rock band Wylie Hunter the Cazadores and the Boston based Americana rockers Hallelujah the Hills.

Freedy Johnston at Iota July 30

NYC indie-rock artist, Freedy Johnston is performing at Iota Club & Cafe on Monday, July 30. Rolling Stone and Spin hailed  his eleventh full-length album, Can You Fly as a masterpiece. Johnston’s songs are often praised for their literary quality, but they also hit you on a gut level.  

Atoms Apart at Fort Reno tonight

Atoms Apart (photo via Suludc.com)

If you can stand the heat tonight and are looking for some good live music, local electonic band Atoms Apart are playing in Fort Reno tonight. Inspired by bands like Daft Punk and The Cure, brothers Mike and Emil Favilafrom Virginia pumps out upbeat and catchy tunes.

Winners and Losers in Friday night's massive storm

This tree on 3rd and Fillmore took out two cars
 in Friday night's storm

Last Friday night a massively strong storm, officially classified as a "derecho", took everyone by surprised and caused dangerous conditions around 10:30pm. Almost everyone in the region lost power for several days, and as may as 400,000 Dominion customers are still waiting for their lights to come on.

The storm killed most usual Friday night activities for Clarendon, as most bars were plunged into darkness and cash registers would not work. After this strange weekend before the holiday passed, there are some clear "winners" and "losers" of this storm:

Winner = Silver Diner

Despite all of the rest of the block going dark, by some lucky miracle Silver Diner remained powered up the whole weekend. This gave them great business as their was a huge line out the door for them Saturday morning.

Loser = Lyon Park

By my estimate, Clarendon's residential neighbor to the south got hit the hardest in the immediate area. Some houses still do not have power, probably due to several huge (read: scary) trees that fell and damaged houses and parked cars. Luckily, the nearby 7-11 on Highland Street seems well stocked in bags of ice. Good luck on keeping cool!

Screwtop Wine Bar & Red Hook Lobster truck

Last Saturday, Clarendon's Screwtop Wine Bar hosted a special dinner menu in association with Red Hook lobster truck. From about 4:30 to 6:30pm that day, the Red Hook truck was parked directly across from the restaurant. Patrons were encouraged to walk over to the truck and purchase a lobster or shrimp roll seperately, then to buy a beverage to accompany it from Screwtop. The restaurant offered suggestions of which wine and beers to go with which style Red Hook rolls.

The combination was fun, but I ended up still being hungry and needed to snack on Screwtop's light and delicious grilled cheese sliders. They menioned this is planned to be a recurring theme, and I highly recommend it next time they come around!

Suggested wine and beer pairings for the lobster rolls

Red Hook truck conviently located accross the street

Maine style lobster roll with Martinshof Gruner wine

Chris4Life Colon Cancer fundraiser at Clarendon Ballroom

This Saturday, the Clarendon Ballroom is hosting a great fundraiser called Chris4Life. From 5pm-6pm there will be a happy hour on the rooftop bar, and the main event in the ballroom is from 6pm-9pm. Tickets to the Erica Paul Fabulous event are available online for $15 and at the door for $20.

The evening will be filled with signature cocktails, savory bites, entertainment, a Fabulous Auction and a high-end live auction. Chris4Life will also be launching the Erica Paul Resource DVD for patients diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer.

At the age of 26, Erica was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer.  Instead of letting the devastating news stop her in her tracks, Erica began her fabulous journey of hope and activism.  Through the many procedures, treatments, and surgeries, she always managed to flash that brilliant, fabulous smile.  She began sharing her story in the hopes that others would not be stricken with such a terrible disease.  On March 6, 2011 Erica lost her battle and passed away from the disease. In her honor, last year Chris4Life launched the Erica Paul Memorial Fund.