It's always exciting when major sex scandals elsewhere turn out to have local connections. If you somehow haven't been inundated with the news already for the past couple of hours, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has publicly apologized after having been caught on a federal wiretap arranging for a prostitute to meet him in a hotel room. Turns out, the hotel room in question was right here in D.C., though it's unclear which hotel that......

Bhangra, an infectious folk music and dance style from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, has slowly crept into the mainstream club scene. The driving force behind this increase in popularity are the South Asian DJs of Great Britain and North America, who took this traditional form and infused it with the programmed sounds of hip-hop, dancehall, and techno. One of the most well-known names in this movement is DJ Rekha (pictured), a New......

Which stories did DCist readers think merited the most attention this year? Top 10 Most Commented Posts of 2007 10) D.C. Judge Seeks $67 Million for Lost Pants (105 comments) 9) Columbia Heights Listserve vs. Ross (107 comments) 8) Saving the Single Beer (108 comments) 7) This City Doth Protest Too Much (109 comments) 6) Solo Marines Often Refused Entry to Some D.C. Bars (113 comments) 5) Bars Claim Loss of Business Over Smoking......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on DCist. Cloverfield, the new JJ Abrams movie where a skyscraper-sized monster descends upon New York City. In theaters on 1/18. Hoovers, where you can find company information for free. Busted Tees, they're having a nostalgia sale - 12 shirts for $12 each. If you're interested in advertising on DCist or any other site in our network, check out our online mediakit.......

Torontoist discovered their city's most ridiculous holiday lights setup, with 80,000 lights and two––two!––synchronized music routines. Naturally, they snagged a video. Chicago tragically loses one of its most recognizable neighborhood icons, the pigeon man of Lincoln Square. LAPD leaves body in car at crash scene, then tows it. Massachusetts plus mullet equals PR mayhem. Londonist sleeps in a Haunted plague pit. UC Berkeley students strip naked and race through campus, NSFW floppiness ensues. Phillyist......

We're getting ready for our staff holiday party tonight, so GHA and AT are combined into one super post! Have fun, y'all. We certainly will be. >> Two more people, both longtime friends of Harriette Walters, were arrested in connection with the Office of Tax and Revenue scandal today. [WaPo] >> The Rock and Roll Hotel is hosting a Trailer Trash dance night. 8 p.m. to close, free. >> Sadly we weren't able to......

It looks like Virginia's gunnin' for a fight -- pun intended. According to WTOP, Virginia has filed a brief in the Supreme Court challenging the District's gun ban, joining a number of states that are picking sides in what may be a historic decision on the reach of the Second Amendment. The case, which will be heard in March, could have a wide-reaching effect on gun laws and regulations nationwide. According to Virginia Attorney......

Whenever the dirtiest plays in hockey history are discussed, New York Islanders fans malign Dale Hunter's hit on Pierre Turgeon. True, Hunter hit Turgeon from behind, without warning, as Turgeon raised his arms to celebrate a decisive playoff goal. True, Hunter separated Turgeon's shoulder, earning a (then record setting) 21-game suspension. Regardless, Caps fans will no longer have to listen quietly as Long Island residents insult our good name. That's because Islander Chris Simon has......

>> The 1930s-era Hecht's building in Northeast has been bought by a Philadelphia developer who plans to incorporate the historic structure into a new retail hub off New York Avenue. [WaPo] >> D.C.’s State Education Office established new criteria for free- and reduced-price-meal programs in an effort to increase enrollment. [Examiner] >> Construction has begun on Alexandria's 167-acre Potomac Yard development. [Washington Business Journal] >> The death of musician Casey Calvert last month outside......

With nothing left to do but go for broke, the Washington Redskins kept their playoff hopes alive for the second week in a row by beating their division rivals from New York 22-10 in the frigid Meadowlands last night. It was the type of win fans have hoped for throughout the past month in a half: a solid game from Portis, truly stout play from the offensive line, and, most importantly, a held lead. Early......

FRIDAY: >> Bay Area songstress Goapele’s (pictured) musical background is almost as diverse as her ethnic background. Born to a South African political exile father and a mother whose parents survived the Holocaust, she studied at the Berklee College of Music and later would form musical partnerships with the likes of hip-hop acts like the Hieroglyphics crew and E-40. However her 2005 release, Change It All, established her as especially talented when it comes to......

Monday >> It’s Saint Lucy’s Day! Hej Hej, the DJ night dedicated to Scandinavian pop and rock, is getting festive for this start of the Christmas season with drink specials and holiday hits in addition to their regular fare. Pop into Café St.-Ex in your finest crown of candles, and you might even get a free drink. 10 p.m., FREE. >> Le Loup are also celebrating tonight, in a homecoming of sorts for the local......

Is everyone already leaving town for the holidays? Our calendar here at Reader, Meet Author is looking a little lonely right now. If you have any tips or complaints that we're not posting all the awesome poetry readings, feel free to email us. MONDAY: Caroline Kennedy will be at Politics and Prose to share the Christmas prose most dear to her. It's all in her latest book, A Family Christmas, which includes tributes to Irving......

Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most......

Over in academia, it's finals time, but the receSs improv team over at George Washington University isn't compromising their weekend, which will mark the group's final show of 2007, over it. On their unofficial blog, The Colonialist, they're offering up reasons why their peers shouldn't either. In the past, receSs alums have gone on to pursue real-life comic gigs, including TJ Miller (now on the ABC show "Carpoolers"), Herschel Bleefeld (who landed a role in......

Libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate and hero of the Internets Ron Paul has gotten himself a blimp, and it's headed this way. According to a just-released flight plan, the blimp, which will read "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul" on one side and "Ron Paul Revolution" on the other, will launch from Elizabeth City, N.C., Monday and flyover Washington circa 3 p.m. the same day, with a rally planned for 4 p.m. and another re-launch......

How about that first snow storm of the season, Washington? CapitalWeather.com says that "yesterday's clipper system actually significantly 'over-performed,'" which is why we ended up with 2-4" of snow for the region instead of the 1" we were originally expecting. The Examiner was concerned about your commute this morning thanks to overnight lows that were forecast to drop into the low 20s, allowing for ice to refreeze on the roads in time for this......

If you've noticed a ton of error messages in DCist comments over the last few days, you're not alone -- our technology team up in New York is working to fix the problem as we speak, as it's affecting the entire -Ist Network. We appreciate your patience while they implement a solution as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please don't repost your comments. Even if you do get an error message that says your......

To celebrate the release of Electric Grace: Still more Fiction by Washington Area Women tonight, editor Richard Peabody and ten of the book’s forty-two contributors will be reading selections from their work at Politics & Prose tonight at 7 p.m. Faye Moskowitz, a memoirist, poet, short story writer and professor, will read from her story “Completo (A Triptych),” from the journal, Story Quarterly. Professor Moskowitz—or just Faye, as she would have it—grew up in Detroit......

>> Tonight, New York based woodwind player Rob Jacoby comes to Twins Jazz for an evening of straight ahead jazz. Call (202) 234-0072 for set time and cover information. >> The Big Apple sends another one of its gifted talents to Twins. Daniela Schaechter, a skilled composer, vocalist, and pianist, has already wan numerous awards including the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition 2005, The Sister in Jazz Competition 2002, and the Betty Carter’s Jazz......

A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that the D.C. metro area has the most “walkable places” per capita of any American city -- one for every 264,000 people, beating out even New York City for walkability. Visiting Fellow Christopher B. Leinberger says that the Washington region could serve as the model for the direction the country’s other metro areas are heading over the next generation. The Associated Press already picked up on the......

Ticket holders for Saturday's Wizards v. Raptors match up probably made their purchases with visions of Gilbert Arenas and Chris Bosh dancing in their head. With both stars injured for the game, instead it turned into the Roger Mason Jr. v. Jason Kapono show. It turns out this wasn't a bad thing at all. After not playing at all in Thursday's loss in Philadelphia, Mason Jr. came off the bench to score 15 big......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Chatty Cathys Warren Rojas of Northern Virginia Magazine was on Rockwell this week shilling his new chat, Grill Warren. Do we not have enough food chats/chogs/Q&As in this town? I guess it's an alternative if you can't get your question answered by one of the three Ts, but this is getting a little out of hand. Or maybe DCist is behind the curve on this one, and we should be starting our own chat. But......

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Fake Accents is their ability to make their inherent contradictions seamlessly coexist. One might not expect that the same band who records and listens to their own practice sessions would also write a disclaimer on their first album that most of the songs that they'd written were actually just ripped off of other songs. Their songs are identifiable by both their catchy hooks and their noisy guitar riffs.......

One of these guys might be the next president, so it's good to try and parse where they stand on District voting rights. At least that was the thinking over at D.C. Vote, who recently recorded and sent in a number of videos of District residents asking the presidential candidates from the Republican Party where they stood on D.C. voting rights. The videos, eleven in all, were submitted to CNN for the upcoming CNN/YouTube......

Yesterday, I found it difficult to write about Washington's loss over the weekend to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It had nothing to do with the play on the field, which amounted to a carbon copy of the previous week's loss. Jason Campbell strove mightily to lead the team past their mistakes, only to be done in by mistakes of his own. A game changing moment came when the offense failed to obtain some badly needed......

Have you followed Eddie Argos' instructions and formed a band? Have you been looking, but just not finding, the perfect way to celebrate Hannukah this year? Are you free on December 8? The Eight, a concert presented by JDub Records, and Taglit-birthright Israel, is a worldwide Hannukah party happening simultaneously in 9 cities: D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Rio and Moscow. JDub, home to bands such as Balkan Beat Box,......

If you want to see American ballet at its best, there’s nothing better than the choreography of George Balanchine. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet seeks to remind the audience of that with three of his works at The Kennedy Center. They'll perform two different all-Balanchine mixed repertory programs the company will present over the remainder of the holiday week and weekend. Often referred to as the father of American ballet, Balanchine found a muse in Suzanne......

Happy Thanksgiving, Washington. The streets are quiet this morning in the capital; one cab driver remarked to this writer that it was his favorite day to drive in the city -- no traffic, no tourists, and everyone he picks up tends to be cheery and a big tipper. The forecast in D.C. today is calling for an unseasonably warm high of 72 degrees, with a solid chance of afternoon showers and gastrointestinal distress. What's the......