Exciting news for people who like to put one foot in front of the other, via the Washington Business Journal. Maryland has become the first state in the country to adopt an official state exercise, and they've chosen walking. Much like official state flowers, songs and birds, this potentially new tradition of naming an official exercise is no doubt doomed to end up being something no one knows until they get a question about it......

There tends to be a lot of attention given to the state of bicycling to maneuver this city's streets, and rightfully so. But what about those of us who don't have the benefit of a manpowered two-wheeler to ride to work? After all, recent statistics show that 11.8 percent of D.C. walks to work, compared to the 2 percent who pedal. Well, DDOT has us people on feet in mind. On Tuesday, the agency released......

Walking into Jammin’ Java Friday night, here’s what I knew about Philly rockers Marah: 1) High Fidelity and About a Boy author Nick Hornby, a man who has documented his musical preferences at least enough for me to know I largely share them, loves on this band so much he devoted one of his book columns in Believer magazine a couple of years ago to their largely unsung magnificence. 1a) Stephen King --Josh Ritter......

This post is from DCist Contributor Joe Viola Located in the heart of Adams Morgan is the Little Fountain Café. The menu is quaint but extremely sophisticated, the ambiance quiet but romantic, and the service is friendly but unobtrusive. There’s no elevator music while you eat. Bono, Coldplay, Billy Joel, and smooth jazz covers by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald enhance an already private affair. Walking downstairs into the Café you pass by the little......

Renee Stout, a very cool D.C. resident and assemblage artist, has a new collection of works on view at Hemphill Fine Arts -- Journal: Book One. Walking into this cabinet of curiosity, you are greeted by a large, accurately painted advertisement for the corner psychic. By putting on the airs of alter ego Fatima Mayfield, Stout is able to role play as a fictitious herbalist/fortuneteller who enters the arena of the shadowy and strange.......

Clockwise from top left: Comet Ping Pong, Red Rocks, 2 Amys, Bebo There are many factors that affect a pizza. The type of flour used for the dough. The temperature of the oven. The quality of the toppings. The skill and hands of the maker of the dough. The vigilance of the pizzaiolo (the person manning the oven). D.C. may not be known as much of a pizza town, but a few of the......

Memorial Day is this Monday, meaning a lot of Washingtonians have a three day weekend. With the extra day comes extra opportunity to take a day trip (or two) around the area. We polled our staffer for some good destinations in the area to share, so pump up the bike tires, get out the hiking boots or start the car (Zip, Flex, or your own). And if you have any other good suggestions, let us......

The Prints of Sean Scully, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is a thoughtful mini-retrospective chosen from a master set of prints that the artist gave to the permanent collection. Of the artist’s defiant set of prints, these are an answer to the ubiquitously decided notion that abstraction is super passé. His use of multiple printmaking methods on each print gives the works their tension. You name it, he’s done it: aquatint,......

MONDAY >> You may not be able to pronounce their name, but !!! (chk, chk, chk)’s disco enfused indie pop will leave you speechless. The former band members from The Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers are on tour promoting their recent release Myth Takes. Catch them at the 9:30 Club tonight with Canadian experimental rockers, Holy Fuck. $18. TUESDAY >> Velvet Revolver kicked off their Re-evolution tour on May 3rd the same way they......

Last Saturday morning, under grey skies and whipping winds, DCist rolled out of bed to take a walking tour of Embassy Row, one of the 60 free tours being offered in this weekend's WalkingTown DC, an event offered by Cultural Tourism DC. Like Sommer, I was initially sceptical that there was much to learn about the Dupont Circle neighborhood, a familiar stomping ground for many Washington young people. But on the Embassy Row tour,......

Last week Prevention magazine put out its list of the Best Walking Cities of 2007. We were a little bit surprised by the results: 1. Madison, Wisconsin 2. Austin, Texas 3. San Francisco, California 4. Charlotte, North Carolina 5. Seattle, Washington 6. Henderson, Nevada 7. San Diego, California 8. San Jose, California 9. Chandler, Arizona 10. Virginia Beach, Virginia OK, so the top five cities are all plausible, even if we have a hard time......

In the area around the D.C. Courthouse on Indiana Avenue NW near Judiciary Square, and we suspect elsewhere in the city, there are massive plumes of steam coming from the grates in the sidewalk. We usually don't pay any attention to the steam that regularly comes up from the grates around town, but thanks to the cold, cold, Vostok-esque weather, these are reaching higher than the surrounding buildings. Walking through them is like flying in......

Greetings, Washington. Welcome to yet another shortened work week. With no less than three abbreviated work weeks (four for some) in the past month, the prospect of an unmitigated series of five-dayers looms large. So enjoy a back-to-work Tuesday while you can, but don't forget to wear a coat. That's right, January really is a winter month and today will see temps drop throughout the day accompanied by blustery winds, remnants of the deadly winter......

Walking into the hastily opened Bebo Trattoria in the revitalized and almost pedestrian friendly Crystal Drive area in Crystal City (aka close-in Arlington), I thought: "Hey, this looks just like Oyamel. It's still vertical and orange, but they're serving pasta." When Roberto Donna realized he couldn't stand to be without a kitchen for a few months while Galileo's building is renovated, his pal Jose Andres came to the rescue. Andres wanted to move Oyamel to......

We've used the power of blogging to get potholes fixed, so why not use it to spur some local development? At least that's what one blogger and Shaw resident is looking to do. The anonymous blogger behind Off Seventh -- My Chronicles of Shaw is sick and tired of seeing properties in the fast-growing neighborhood boarded up and undeveloped, and he wants do something about it. He writes: My wife and I were heading to......

FRIDAY: >> James Wong Howe's 1954 film Go, Man, Go! is a fictionalized account of the Harlem Globetrotters story, starring Sidney Poitier, Dane Clark and some of the original Globetrotters. And we don't know about you guys, but we're just never bored watching those guys do things with a basketball that seem to defy the laws of physics. Plus there's a love story, and who couldn't use a little more love? A free showing has......

Written by DCist contributor Genevieve Smith. With perhaps the exception of art involving excrement or the denigration of religious icons, there are very few types of contemporary art more likely to raise the ire (or at least the eyebrow) of nonbelievers than those using found art objects. Walking into a gallery filled with readymades, one can almost hear a grumbling murmur of "my six year-old could have made that." But while a sculpture constructed out......

We don't normally include musical events in Baltimore in this agenda, for obvious reasons. However, we are leading off with a singular opportunity up in Charm City this week, the production of Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking (premiered by San Francisco Opera in 2000) at Baltimore Opera. This new opera was a smash success at its premiere and has been revived in several more successful productions in the years since. Having just gone up......

WMATA Adds Walking Directions to Website: We've wondered it, too -- how exactly does one get to and from certain Metro stations on foot? Lucky for us, WMATA has now added walking directions to the map function on its website, which pop up once the user has created a trip itinerary. This feature will be handy for us who rarely have any idea on how to get where we are going. Public-Private Land Partnerships Presented:......

Leonard Slatkin returned to the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra, which is now celebrating its 75th anniversary season, last night in the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall. DCist was there, along with a full audience that actually did not consist only of people over 50. Most of us were there, not only to welcome back Maestro Slatkin, but to hear the first of the superstar soloists appearing with the NSO during its big season, violinist......

After a promising start to the weekend (a 4-1 win on Friday night), the Nationals dropped back-to-back games to the Cardinals in all too familiar fashion: Back-to-back 6-0 losses to the best team in baseball, and consecutive no-shows by the Nats' bats. Saturday, the Nats had no answer for the previously struggling Jason Marquis, managing just two hits. Yesterday they collected just four hits and two walks. It all adds up to another series' loss......

(Review and interview by DCist contributor Justin Kielsgard) Tegan and Sara are water bubbling in a pot. Blending tender, sometimes raucous harmonies with pop and punk sensibility, these 20-something twin sisters from Canada are not simply the fresh-faced darlings of the indie scene, but seasoned rock musicians (having toured with Ryan Adams, Hot Hot Heat and The Killers). In a Monday night performance at the 9:30 Club in support of their latest release, "So Jealous"......

Man, after last night's DCist Happy Hour, we're not sure we want to do anything for the rest of the weekend except curl up in our beds and pound Advil. But for the rest of you folks, here are some events we think are worth dropping by. FRIDAY: >>In this week's Art Agenda, we erroneously reported that photographer Samantha Wolov's exhibit opened Saturday evening; the opening actually takes place tonight from 6 p.m. to 9......

Today will be partly cloudy with highs in the 40s. If you came to our happy hour thanks for stopping by, if not, go see what you missed! If you're a blogger the MeetUp.com D.C. blogger meetup for March is this Wednesday, and with a couple notable RSVP's already promises to be an interesting time. This weekend we took a walk around Second Street NE and reported on the controversy swirling around the FEC and......

Walking to the Potomac Avenue metrorail station yesterday morning, this DCist eyed a pink flyer haphazardly taped to a light-post -- nothing too spectacular, spare the message: Now available...the 'Official' Washington Nationals 'Safe at Home' Bulletproof Vests. These Major-League quality Kevlar vests, with team logos and colors, give sure-fire protection throughout the District of Columbia. And fans coming to RFK Stadium won't need to fear at 15th & C SE or 17th & Independence, where......

Walking through the campus of George Washington University last fall, we wondered aloud to a friend what the university intended to do with the site of the old George Washington University Hospital, also known as the ginormous empty lot next to the new GW hospital off Washington Circle on Pennsylvania Avenue. The site is seen to the right in a GW photo. At the time our companion mused that it would probably sit empty for......

Here's a quick sampling of what's going on around town this weekend. Stay dry! TONIGHT: Music. Local bands you probably haven't heard of: The Routineers, Two If By Sea, People Who Know People 9:30 @ Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW Movie. Monty Python and the Holy Grail Midnight @ Visions Cinema Bistro (repeats Saturday at midnight) Help Visions kick the keg. $10. SATURDAY: Book Sale Starts 9 a.m. @ Radisson Barcelo Hotel, 2121 P......