NYE - The Fire Tonight at Iota

New Year's Eve is going 8-bit this Dec 31 with electric piano trio The Fire Tonight at Iota. Once again joining them are well known DC folk/rock band The Beanstalk Library and also The Cowards Choir. Cover for the night is $20 and music starts at 7:30pm.

NYE - Third Eye Blind Downtown Countdown DC

Lindy Promotions is again throwing a huge New Year's Eve party in DC this year with the Downtown Countdown at the Washington Hilton in DC. The night includes a five hour open bar (9pm-2am), dinner buffet, live music and DJs, comedians and karaoke to entertain 5,000 party goers.

This year's full music line-up features Third Eye Blind, Delta Rae, The Lloyd Dobler Effect, DJ Urban Cowboy, and DJ Dirty Elbows.

Use my promo code NIGHTS to get $10 off tickets, which range from $129 to $275. Special deals for group sales are also available.

Clarendon closings in 2014

 This past year was a tumultuous time for Clarendon with many surprise closings of some of my favorite venues. Here is a run down with the changes over 2014:


Sadly the fancy restaurant and rooftop Eventide suddenly closed one Sunday without warning. I wish I had a last chance at the excellent food in the second floor dining hall with the super high ceilings and booths with mini doors. Even worse this high end restaurant is planned to be replaced by Don Tito from the A-Town team, which sounds like it will be completely opposite of what Eventide once offered.

Twin quirky restaurants Tallula and Eatbar both shut down at the end of 2014. I enjoyed Tallula's menu, although it was often empty on that side of the building. Eatbar was a fun movie themed bar, but the food was overpriced and subpar and also suffered from being not close to anything. Texas Jack's Barbecue is set to take over the space in 2015.

We lost Wilson Tavern in Courthouse to a new hotel project this past year. I was sad about that as Social DC PR just started throwing fun themed parties there and it was the spot to catch the last episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Summers in Courthouse is set to close this year, and I have mixed feelings about the outdated soccer bar leaving us. It felt stagnant, but will miss the nights I spent there as a Marymount college student.

Java Shack will be turning into Commonwealth Joe in 2015. I felt luke warm on Java Shack so I am optimistic about this change.

And rumor has it that Carpool in Ballston my close in 2015 and may be demolished to make way for more high rise residential development. I hope that isn't true and we don't lose another quirky old favorite spot here.

Jay's is the clear winner in 2014 as they are still open despite years of talk of closing and the upper floor of the building being deemed unsafe.

9 Songwriter Series at Iota

Photo courtesy of Kate Moran

Get in the holiday spirit this Sunday December 14 with nine super talented musicians on stage in one night at Iota. This special holiday show is so big it actually goes for two nights, starting Sunday at 8:30 and continuing on Monday night. The 9 Songwriter Series will feature all these great local acts singing holiday tunes for just a single $10 cover charge:

Justin Trawick
Brittany Jean
Kevin De Souza
Louisa Hall
Jim Shirey
Elena Lacayo
Andres Gallego
Jasmine Gillison
Kate Moran 

Polish night at Oby Lee

Bakery and winery Oby Lee is offering their first Polish night celebration this Friday, December 12. The Clarendon shop on the corner of Washington Blvd and 10th Street will serve traditional Pierogi stuffed with potatoes and cheese drizzled with mushroom sauce; Golabki cabbage stuffed with rice and beef with homemade tomato sauce; Krokiety crepe rolls with beef and mushrooms, and Jablecznik Polish Apple Pie.

Oby Lee's Friday happy hour is from 4-7pm with $5 crostini.

Thanksgiving Eve at Clarendon Ballroom

Thanksgiving Eve is one of the biggest party nights of the year with many locals returning to town, and Clarendon Ballroom plans to have a huge crowd at their celebration with DJ Bobby Hash on stage. If you grew up in the area like I did you are sure to be able to meet up with friends from high school or college that moved away, and many local bars quickly become impromptu class reunions. The party at Ballroom starts at 8pm this Wednesday November 26 and Lindy Promotions is on hand to get you drink specials and possible discounted cover charges for early arrivals.

Goodbye Eventide

Sadly and suddenly, Eventide announced last Sunday November 16 closed its doors for the last time. The high end three story restaurant was one of my favorite places in Clarendon since it opened in 2008 with expensive but well worth it food, a more upscale and intimate rooftop, and first floor bar which tried to be a little more upscale compared to its rowdy neighbors of Spider Kelly's and Clarendon Ballroom. This "Odd Bar" was more of a classy spot where you could order and Old Fashioned, with bourbon, and the bartender would push it across the bar to you with a cane.

I loved the second floor beautiful dining hall with extra tall ceilings - built before air conditioning to provide better ventilation in the 1920s - and fun felt doors to the interior booths. Menus usually varied depending what floor you were dining on, but I never had a meal on their second story that wasn't blown over by.

We don't have long to wait to meet Eventide's replacement, as ArlNow is already reporting that Don Tito will open their in Spring 2015. One the owners of this new beer and tequila bar is the famous (or infamous if you have a noise complaint out against him) Scott Parker. Two years ago Parker led a redesign of Caribbean Breeze into the successful and controversial Ballston nightclub A-Town, which is best known for its rowdy and over-the-top Sunday Funday brunches.

Rock Out For Vets benefit at Jammin Java

Awesome music venue Jammin Java in Vienna is hosting a benefit concert for Arlington veterans on Saturday, November 15. Local government contractor RazorX2 is organizing the event to raise money for the Rock Out For Vets concert to repair the John Lyon VFW Post 3150 building in Courthouse, which is a century old structure in great need for repair.

Two bands will take the stage that Saturday: Fairfax based rock band Traitors N Thieves  and Amsterdam. Tickets are $25 and includes open bar and hor d'oeuvres.

Bracket Room Veterans Day benefit

In honor of  Veterans Day this Tuesday November 11, Bracket Room is hosting a fundraiser to help out veterans and military families. This entire week $1 of every Coors Light draft sold will be donated to the Fisher House, the charity that gives military families places to stay when family members are hospitalized, and the Green Beret Foundation which provides immediate financial assistance to Green Berets who are injured in the line of duty. Also, if you show your military ID CAC card at the bar you receive 50% your drink on Veterans Day.

Halloween in Clarendon - Nov 1 Bar Crawl

Halloween isn't over on Oct 31! Here in Clarendon the holiday must always span two weekends, so save your costumes for the 2nd annual Clarendon Halloween Crawl on Saturday, Nov 1. Organized by Project DC Events, last year's bar crawl was massive and super fun. Be prepared for hordes of costumed party goers between 2 and 9pm who are taking advantage of each participating venue's specials, raffles and costume contests.

Early bird tickets are $10 until this Tuesday Oct 7. Then prices rise to $15 and then to $20 at the door. That price gets you a plastic mug, access to cheaper beer with that mug, $2 Bronx pizz slices, and prize contest entries. Despite all the controversy surrounding Arlington bar crawls over the past year, I'm really looking forward to this one because the costumed crowd was so friendly at the last Halloween crawl.

Register at Mad Rose or Clarendon Ballroom to start the day drinking out and expect long lines at both venues. Then hop to any or all the other participating bars, including: Whitlow’s, Spider Kelly's, SoBe, Hunan Number One, Mister Days, Hard Times, IOTA, American Tap Room, and Bracket Room.