Good morning, Washington. Well, this is it: the holidays are finally, tragically over. You're once again sitting at your desk. And now we begin the slow, terrible death march toward spring, with only brief, inadequate celebrations of Presidents' and MLK Day to sustain us. Stay strong, D.C. — we'll get through this. Can You Hear Me Now? Hello? Hello?: The ball dropped, the phones came out and... nothing. "Y2K8 Bug" doesn't sound very catchy,......

Welcome back, Washington. We hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a holly and/or jolly one, and that your stock of material possessions has been satisfactorily increased. As you might expect, not too terribly much happened while you've been away. Davis Mulls Eighth Term: Sure, it was published yesterday, but we imagine many of you may have missed the Post's analysis of whether Tom Davis will seek another term as congressman for Northern......

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......

With monuments and museums, Washington, D.C. is a haven for history buffs. But what do most of us really know about Virginia? The Kathy Harty Gray Dance Theatre will combine a history lesson with dance with two performances of “Women in Virginia and Other Favorites” this weekend at Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus. The performance will include excerpts of the company’s touring program “Stories to Remember about Women in Virginia”, which covers 400 years......

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has decided not to seek the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) next year. The Post is reporting that Davis will announce formally on Thursday what his plans are, but sources have indicated that he won't look to take on a number of potential Republican contenders or former Governor Mark Warner for the seat. Davis reportedly doesn't want his run to overshadow a tough re-election contest faced by......

The new record for the longest amount of consecutive days without measurable rainfall at Washington National Airport is scheduled to end later today, as showers and possibly a pretty heavy thunderstorm are predicted for this afternoon. But CapitalWeather.com says this rain event won't be enough to make a dent in the area's drought, as the rain will be short-lived and the amounts modest for the most part. Still, it's been a while since you had......

Via Consumerist, allow us to introduce you to the next Great American Hero: Mona Shaw, 75-year-old Manassas resident and fed-up potential Comcast customer. Potomac News has the great story about Shaw, who got a little hot under the collar after trying to change her phone service from Verizon to Comcast's Triple Play back in August. As hard as it might be to imagine, Shaw ran into some difficulty trying to get her Comcast service set......

FRIDAY: >> Do the right thing and head to 9:30 Club for a show hosted by the strange gathering of the likes of Gypsy Eyes Records, The Federal Reserve and haberdasherie Propper Topper for a benefit for the DC Public Library Foundation. Kitty Hawk, Vandaveer, Revival, These United States and many more make up the crowded bill. 7:30 p.m., $20. >> The Brunettes (pictured right) perform sickly sweet but addictive pop duets, and they'll be......

Ragged Glory plays tonight at the Velvet Lounge. Can’t afford to pay $100 for a cheap seat at Neil Young’s upcoming DAR stop in November? You’re in luck. During our last chat with Ryan Walker from The Beanstalk Library, we found out he also put together a Neil Young cover band a few years back. They call themselves Ragged Glory, and the lineup plays something like a who’s who of up-and-coming local bands: Brian Kent......

We first heard about washingtonpost.com's intentions to launch a comprehensive directory of D.C. area blogs last January, when they gathered a bunch of invited local bloggers to come have free soft drinks and chocolate-covered strawberries so they could pick all of our brains about how best to reach us on the interwebs. Today, we received the first word that the Local Blog Directory is up and running and available to users to register. Generally,......

MONDAY >> At the ripe young age of 24, Patrick Wolf has already achieved a lot: three albums of brooding electronica and orchestral pop, modeling campaigns for Burberry, headlines in the British tabloids and at least one on-stage altercation that found the lupine violinist attacking his strung-out drummer with a cymbal. Drama notwithstanding, Wolf's latest, the surprisingly upbeat The Magic Position, is undoubtedly one of this year's best. Come see what all the fuss is......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Brookland recently got the news that Dwellings, a home furnishings store and one of our most promising main street retailers, was closing due to slow growth in sales. The announcement touched off a neighborhood discussion on what was wrong, exactly, with the shopping environment in the leafy, residential neighborhood. Many locals noted that low residential density made running a retail business a......

Good morning, Washington. More news today on the Virginia abusive driver's fees front, this time even closer to home. Arlington residents will be cheered to hear that an Arlington County General District Court judge has ruled that Virginia's abusive-driver fees are unconstitutional. Judge Dorothy H. Clarke is the fourth District Court judge in Virginia to make such a ruling, but the first one in Northern Virginia. Naturally, the state will appeal the decision, and this......

Even though the U.S. Senate is known as the best retirement home in America -- great healthcare, plenty of daily activities, and people continue to pay attention to you for some reason -- Virginia Sen. John Warner announced today that come next year, he's out. And while his announcement is big news, even bigger is the fight that's about to come to replace him. Consider the circumstances. The commonwealth is a political toss-up these days.......

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) made national news last week when he asked President Bush to start bringing the troops home in time for Christmas. But of more importance locally has been the continued speculation as to whether Warner would run for another term in 2008, and if not, who would replace him. By way of FreeRide, we find out today that yesterday the Post's Sunday Fix briefly noted that Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has been......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Things used to be clearer for Fairfax County. It used to be known as the epitome of upper-middle class suburbanity, even earning name-checks in popular novels and songs as such. With acres and acres of rolling hills covered in leafy suburbs and landscaped office parks, it was a quiet complement to the quirky inner suburbs of Northern Virginia and the dense chaos......

The Examiner reports on a $36,000 bill received by the organizers of the 2007 Capital Pride Festival from the D.C. police and the Emergency Management Agency, who say they need the money to pay for overtime and other costs for security incurred during the June festival. But the festival's organizers and some members of the D.C. Council are questioning the charges, since the agencies waived these same fees last year and other annual parades, like......

Yesterday a judge in a courtroom in the Virginia hinterlands wrote out some nasty doubletalk and upheld a set of draconian penalties Virginia has unleashed upon commuters with jobs in D.C., raising the question once again of why Northern Virginia taxpayers continue to fund a state government run by rural Southerners who hate us and want us to be miserable. Before yesterday's ruling, the fees had been deemed unconstitutional in district courts in Henrico County......

To be honest, Washington, it's taking everything we've got not to put up eight or nine posts today just indulging in our need to whine about how nasty hot it is outside. Apparently the humidity today and tomorrow is going to be so intense, it could feel like it's 105 degrees. Can we all agree that this is not OK? OK. Thanks. We'll move on to the headlines then, and by "move on" we don't......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Not too long ago this site, along with the D.C. Council and much of the rest of the Washington area, was actively debating the incentive package for the new Washington Nationals stadium. At the time I was well aware of the questions about costs and benefits and was familiar with research on the subject suggesting that new stadia did not boost metropolitan......

Written by DCist contributor Valerie Paschall Fitting the Montreal six-piece The Besnard Lakes into the small Backstage at the Black Cat seemed like a stretch. Containing the dense sound of three guitars and keyboards in the small room without destroying onlookers’ eardrums looked like it would take a small feat of science. Yet, the true feat was that even in that small room for no more than 75 people, The Besnard Lakes effectively conveyed......

This week in Transit on Thursday, we pose a stunningly dramatic series of questions... Could Metro be Smartening up? Will you get hit by Virginia's new transportation fees and taxes? Is a road better than a rail? Will your Metro trip be delayed this weekend? Find out after the jump! Photo by Terecico......

Chances are, if you live in or near the city and are not fantastically wealthy, you probably have roommates. Maybe you live with friends, maybe with some folks you randomly found on craigslist and barely talk to, but sharing your living space with other people is a fact of life for most people under 30 in D.C. And in this kind of heat, any sort of odd personal odors emanating from your roommates' bedrooms might......

You've heard it all a million times before — nobody dances at shows here! People don't get into the music! There's just no soul in D.C.'s music scene! The Hall Monitors heard your cry and happily came to answer the call with their brand of throwback garage rock & soul reminiscent of the guitar and Motown greats that made most of us (well, OK, me at least) learn to love music in the first place.......

The Alexandria City Council passed a bill on Saturday that would effectively ban smoking in restaurants in the city. The council has to vote again on the measure, which makes changes to use permit regulations that would require restaurants to go smoke free, before it would go into effect, and that vote isn't planned until after the next Virginia General Assembly session ends. Alexandria officials are hoping the General Assembly will pass its own state-wide......

Don't run out just yet, as the special doesn't start until 4 p.m., but Robeks is offering smoothies for just $1 this afternoon -- not free, but certainly significantly discounted compared with the $5 you normally have to plop down for the privilege of sucking pureed fruit and ice through a straw. There are two Robeks in D.C.-proper: one at 4523 Wisconsin Ave. NW and the other at 1707 L St. NW. There's also a......

I thought I was getting such a good deal on my salon visits. A shampoo, a good cut, some pleasant conversation. They have good music playing, and everyone's friendly. Most importantly, the price is low enough not to seriously offend a sense of haircut-related frugality instilled through years in childhood spent getting bargain cuts in wood-paneled barbershops where grizzled Vietnam vets with fewer than 10 fingers cut hair with brisk efficiency while Hank Williams Sr.......

It's Thursday, and while were out of commission last week, we're back this week with your weekly transit news, all packaged up and ready for delivery. After the jump, we're feeling the Metro love from Maryland's senators even while another tunnel debate is brewing in their state. Also, Fairfax roadways are beginning to look like tallgrass prairie. Photo by tony_fiorini......

Ahhhh, the real start of summer: The consistently warmer temperatures ... the first night you venture wearing skimpy clothes out ... the year's first Code Orange Bad Air Quality Day. However you prefer measuring the start of the season, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is predicting our first Code Orange air quality day today, meaning ozone levels are predicted to be extremely high and the air quality very poor. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission......

Summer is almost here, and that means it is almost time to roll up the carpets and send the Classical Music Agenda on vacation. So enjoy the music while you can. In particular, this is the last week to take in a performance of the best production from Washington National Opera this season, Janáček's Jenůfa. My review called this opera "essential viewing for anyone who cares about music drama." Performances remain only on Monday (May......