Fishbowl D.C. scooped even the Washington Post's own gossip columnists on word that Brad Pitt was reportedly visiting the paper's newsroom this afternoon. Says a Postie: "since word got out, female producers from network news shops are clamoring to stop by and just pay a "visit" to the newsroom to see friends they've never visited before in the newsroom."Patrick Gavin says Pitt was there consulting with Post editor R.B. Brenner in preparation for his upcoming......

Back when Napster was all the rage, big name artists were up in arms because their material was being made available for free to whoever wanted it wherever a computer with Internet access existed. On the other hand, if a musician wanted to get mass distribution on the cheap, Napster and similar programs were a godsend. Detroit crooner Dwele’s career is a testament to that. Recorded mostly in his bedroom, Dwele’s Rize demo was highly......

Rappers from the South are often subjected to the greatest disapproval when hip-hop aficionados start doing intra-cultural critiques. The embodiment of “bad” hip-hop comes in the form of a rapper named Lil’-So-And-So who talks about his car and bejeweled teeth while residing in one of the former Confederate states. Mind you, many of those making such claims also have a hard time conceptualizing the existence of anything beyond the Hudson River. That’s why when Little......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

It's not every day that British bands come to D.C. in a red doubledecker bus. The BritBus tour stopped downtown yesterday, bringing three new groups — Jyrojets from Scotland, The Crave from Brighton, and Julia Jones from London via Wales — around the country at a top speed of 45 miles per hour. According to bassist Tom Swann from The Crave, it took four days to get from Denver to St. Louis, and although the......

>> Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) was indicted today on allegations that he took bribes to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa and for being a complete idiot for storing that money in his freezer. [WaPo] >> "If my understanding of DC history is correct, the grounds where the Ronald Reagan building stands have been: 1. a swamp-assed forest 2. an awkward triangle in L’Enfant’s partially realized dream 3. a neighborhood of brothels, flopboxes,......

>> Help the merchants displaced after the Eastern Market fire at happy hour tonight by imbibing at one of more than 20 D.C. bars that have signed up to donate a portion of their proceeds to begin the rebuilding. Started as the Facebook.com group "Rescue Eastern Market" by Clay Johnson on the day of the fire, you can find the full list and a handy map of participating taverns and cafes at Rescue Eastern......

It's a little dreary out today, isn't it? Please accept this video of adorable baby meerkats at the National Zoo trying to dig holes as a token of our concern for the mental well being of Washingtonians in desperate need of a sunny, warm spring day. [DCGuide]. >> There are plenty of things D.C.'s federal workers can complain about: shifts in the administration, incurring public ire during tax season, being treated like a number in......

The recitals sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society are usually very well attended. Their latest concert, by Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey, did not have the same draw as some of their other events, but those who made it to the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater on Monday evening were rewarded with some excellent singing. In 2005, Kelsey represented the United States at the BBC Singer of the World competition, and he has been appearing at Lyric......

So much is happening in classical music this week, much of it already sold out. Here are a few things for which tickets are still available and that should be of interest. JUST VISITING: >> The award for best free concert of the week goes to the Hilliard Ensemble, one of the best choral groups in the world, visiting the Freer Gallery of Art on Wednesday (January 24, 7:30 p.m.). Their program includes music by......

In 1946, the Third Programme launched in Great Britain blasting classical music to the masses. Sixty years later, it has re-emerged, not as a station on the BBC, but as one of D.C.’s newest purveyors of trippy Brit pop. It is very appropriate that this band, who only recently formed at the beginning of the year, chose a name with such experienced undertones. With but several months under their belts working together, Simon, Fidel,......

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the......

FRIDAY: Odds are good you will be imbibing a beer or 12 this evening in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, so please write down this number in big, bold letters and stick it in your wallet right now: 1-800-200-TAXI. That's the number for SoberRide, which will be in operation from 4 p.m. today until 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. If you're over 21, the SoberRide program will pay for a taxi (up to $50) to pick......

This is an event we're all bound to want to celebrate -- the District's speeding cameras brought in a record $2.98 million in fines in December 2005, the single biggest take in the program's five-year history, according to the Washington Times. The speeding cameras -- 10 in fixed locations, 12 mounted on police vehicles or moveable units -- have been in use since 2001, and in that time have netted the city some $95 million......

Viridian Crosses Starting Line Engines thumping, and pumping in time. Everyone, including Daily Candy, Don Rockwell, aunts and uncles, etc. have been telling us that Viridian is opening this weekend. Looks like it's true, despite the dose of snark in last week's Feed. According to the owners, Rebecca Byrnes (formerly of The Reef) will be head chef at the 14th Street NW joint, and Kenan Forman will be in charge of the adult grape juice.......

New York City. Home to more bands (and more bloggers) per capita than probably any other city in the US. With so many bands and so many words being devoted to them, it's hard to believe a band as good as We Are Scientists has flown under the radar for so long. But we're not here to examine why this is the case, we're here to see what we can do about it. We Are......

Photo by Keith Tagg/Adam Stacey via Flickr We woke up this morning and heard the grim news from London of what appears to be a shocking coordinated attack on the city's transportation system during the morning rush hour. According to the BBC, there have been explosions near three Underground stations -- Edgware Road, Aldgate, and the massive King's Cross station -- and on one double-decker bus near Tavistock Square. The city's transportation system has......

DCist has learned that President Bush, who has been delivering a commencement speech in friendly GOP territory at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., was not informed by emergency response authorities that a large chunk of his capital was without water during the morning and afternoon today. OK, we're only kidding here, forgive us, it's Saturday ... Anyway, we don't think the president cares to know where Ward 1 is, despite that it is the......

Any longtime reader of DCist knows that many of us, particularly your editor here, find it funny how the nation's capital is more likely to fall to its knees in absolute supplication when there is the threat of snow than when there's an orange-level terrorist alert. We can take the snow, we can take the intense heat. It's just when Mother Nature hasn't decided what she wants to do with us is when we......

When we saw the headline on the BBC's homepage "Educating America: How the Christian Right is attempting to transform US culture" we clicked through, interested to find out precisely what our friends across the pond had discovered about America. We were even more interested when it turned out the story was a profile of a school just 50 miles from D.C., Patrick Henry College, founded in 2000 by a home school activist for primarily evangelical......

WUSA reported last week that Iraqi citizens living on the East Coast will have a chance to register and vote in their motherland's elections (taking place at the end of this week) at the Ramada Inn in New Carrollton. To register, prospective voters must prove Iraqi citizenship and show that they were born before Dec. 31, 1986. At first, the suburban location of the center seems slightly illogical; however, the hotel's proximity to New Carrollton's......

Now that the massive intelligence overhaul has passed the House and Senate, the last stumbling block preventing Congress from going home for the year has been removed. And you know what that means: Adjournment. It's a time most of the city lets democracy and world affairs run on auto-pilot. People in D.C. are more interested in plotting out their holiday party social agendas, wear jeans to the office because it's Tuesday, take long lunches......

A human rights group has sued two Somalis who now live in Northern Virginia for committing crimes against humanity. The Center for Justice has sued Mohamed Ali Samatar and Yusuf Abdi Ali "war crimes and other human rights abuses committed in Somalia in the 1980s during the brutal military regime of Somali dictator Siad Barré." (The photo is of Barré) The lawsuit is on behalf of a number of victims of the dictatorship. Here's some......

The Post is reporting that President Bush may give a victory speech today, regardless of whether Kerry concedes defeat. From the Post: The White House has not yet announced what time Bush will appear. The campaign at first summoned reporters to appear at the Ronald Reagan Building between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. but then put off the event." The BBC is reporting this morning that "Fears of Ohio Deadlock Start to Fade." In other......

Let the fun begin. Election returns have begun to filter in, and the networks have begun to predict winners for the presidential contest in non-swing states and in some Senate competitions. DCist on election TV, Senate and House races to watch, and when the polls close across the nation in Eastern Time Here's some handy links for results: W. Post, Yahoo Election, CNN, NY Times, BBC News "Vote USA 2004", DemocraticUnderground.com. To keep your......

A Craigslist D.C. entry titled "Part Time work for a real go-getter" seeks to hire someone to help infiltrate something the author calls homeless football:Are you aware that certain Washington insiders have an underground football league that is made up entirely of homeless people? The location of the game changes weekly and the homeless participants are sworn to secrecy. They do not wear pads and some of them get really hurt. I have been to......

It seems that Burleith, that unassuming neighborhood often mistakenly called "Upper Georgetown" is developing a bit of its own commercial identity. The business strip of Wisconsin Avenue between R Street and the Social Safeway has gained a new restaurant, the Curry Club, which one local food reviewer tells DCist could become quite popular. The executive chef, Chris Payton, learned how to cook curry when his wife, Princess Parule (who started BBC America six years ago)......