Results tagged “cometpingpong”

Bluebrain is the brainchild (rim shot!) of Ryan and Hays Holladay. The brothers grew up in D.C., but left the city in their teens for the Big Apple. There they were in a solid band called The Epochs. Recently, they returned home to pursue a new direction for their songwriting. When asked about their recent emigration from New York to The District, Ryan said, "Brooklyn is a fantastic place but eventually it just becomes unsustainable. We grew up here in DC and it feels like we're back home. That said, this city has changed so much since we left ten years ago. Right now, especially, it feels like an exciting time to be here."

    

It's not often that, on your way into a punk rock show, you have to carefully skirt around the band members, for fear of interrupting their ping-pong match. Or that, while waiting for the bands to finish setting up, you join a roomful of families in a rendition of "Happy Birthday," directed at a beaming girl seated in front of an ice cream sundae. Then again, Comet Ping Pong, the noted upper Northwest pizza parlor/ping pong establishment, isn't your average venue. Recalling both the DIY ethos and multitasking charm of Chicago's storied Fireside Bowl, Comet turns out to be the ideal venue for a band like Mika Miko, who are known as much for their involvement with L.A. all-ages performance space The Smell as their back-to-basics take on three-chord punk rock.

Chef Carole Greenwood is out at Buck's Fishing and Camping, and Comet Ping Pizza, according to Going Out Gurus. Greenwood was one of the few female executive chefs in town, but was more frequently noted for her reputation of being temperamental. Many might remember her cease and desist letter over DC Foodies photos of her food. She is leaving to "pursue other challenges and interests including food opportunities in NYC, food writing, music and art." Co-owner James Alefantis has taken full ownership of both restaurants with Laura Bonino of Griffin Market taking Greenwood's place at Comet.

Monday night, a large crowd gathered at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3F monthly meeting to ponder a series of proposals from Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis. The crux of the matter: a request by Alefantis to lift a voluntary agreement between his business and the commission regarding the operation of his restaurant.

It started with the ping pong table outside Comet. Then it was the benches and patio table outside Marvelous Market. Now venerable local bookstore Politics and Prose has been dragged into the ongoing saga of ANC 3F04 Commissioner Frank Winstead's war against there being any reason for people to congregate on the sidewalk along a stretch of upper Connecticut Ave. NW.

Last summer we posted this video, which was put together by ANC 3F04 Commissioner Frank Winstead in an attempt to frighten his upper Northwest neighbors into doing something about the terrible scourge of the outdoor ping-pong table at Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Ave. Many of our commenters laughed off Winstead's scaremongering, wondering why an ANC commissioner would want to come down hard on one of the only interesting new businesses to open in the neighborhood in some time.