Mind the Gap, Y'all

Bethesda's Small Press Expo is this weekend, and our LA artist friend is back in town. Therefore last night was an opportunity to reprise the "Kyle's Never Been There" tours that preceded his departure from DC last December.

First up was Pharaoh's on Columbia Road, a spot popular with the DCist crowd, for the monthly Washington Blogger Meetup. Chris, Michael, Brian and I attended a break-out session on the Butterstick campaign, which after lying moribund for a few weeks is showing signs of life.

Short recap: After the media came to rely on this culinary metaphor to describe the size and shape -- and taste? -- of Washington's newborn panda cub, DCist began using it as a moniker. Bloggers across the area launched a campaign for formal adoption of the name, garning coverage from Bloomberg, Express and NPR. Unrequited Narcissism then posted a webhack permitting partisans to submit "Butterstick" to the zoo's naming contest site. Officials there were reportedly unamused when the choice received substantial electoral support.

After the Meetup, it was on to the newest hipster on the block, Backroads night at Staccato. Subtitled "the queer y'alternative," BR is the kid brother of indie dance night Taint, featuring alternative country, blues, bluegrass, and folk rock. It's the brainchild of consumer rights advocate KDG and his sidekick, DC tastemaker Karl J. It was great to see a nicely diverse mix of fun folk turn out -- especially after the Duplex crowd thinned out -- and yours truly even got a couple of compliments for sporting an über-trendy District Line t-shirt.

After much social intercourse and many adult libations (though none for me [pout]), our gang basically closed down the place. I finally collapsed into bed sometime after 1:30 a.m. Somehow that Kyle just brings out the rock-star lifestyle in me. Not that I'm complaining, mind you...