Washington Planner

Sept. 23: Suit Up!

Anna Pope — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:16:20 +0000

Hand up, not hand out! Suited for Change is having a fundraiser Tuesday, Sept. 23rd at 6:30pm at the very hip Logan Circle Irvine Contemporary Art Gallery. Tickets are only $25, and you’re contributing to a non-profit that provides professional clothing and career and life-skills education to low-income women. Getting people off government assistance and into jobs? Sounds like a good idea to me!! So good, in fact, I joined the host committee. Get your ticket here by filling out the form for $25 with “Suit Up” in the comments box.

Tonight: Drinking, Dancing, Discourse

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:06:33 +0000

Quick Hit: The Modernist Society—a “drinking and dancing” society based in DC & Chicago and possibly Tokyo—hosts events on the last Thursday of each month in which “architects, artists, designers and smut-enthusiasts gather to engage in pretentious debauchery.” If there’s one thing I know about AFF people, it’s that you’re generally fans of pretentious debauchery, so visit Bourbon (2321 18th St NW) tonight for a Q&A with Pop Candy blogger Whitney Matheson followed by Matheson’s DJ-ing debut. More info here.

Photos!: Arlington Allies Happy Hour

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:37:33 +0000

No one told me the ‘Arlington Allies’ happy hour Tuesda was at a mall bar. I mean, I know the invite said “Ballston Mall,” but not being a Virginia type, I kind of thought that was just a fanciful name for some section of large identical brick buildings interspersed with strategic grassy knolls like they like to build in that part of town. But no—no, this bar was in the mall, and not just enter from the corner in-the-mall but pass the Claire’s and the Auntie Anne’s Pretzel deep in the belly of the beast in-the-mall. As I was passing the high-school kids making out in front of the water fountain I began thinking to myself that coming out here had been a horrible social mistake. But then I stepped into Bailey’s Pub & Grille and beheld … every young libertarian in the DC metro area! Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but it seemed the whole of Kochtopia was in attendance, plus some stray journo and think-tank type folks & at least one old man from the Department of Education (who promptly scurried off after Jason Talley told him he wanted to destroy the government). More photos under the cut.

American Enterprise Institute's Justus Myers & free-market marketing-2.0 maven Ben Parizek

LP campaigner and everyone’s-facebook-friend Bruce P. Majors with Maureen Pratt.

Cato's Juan Carlos Hidalgo

Chad Swarthout & Jonathan Blanks

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Mild-mannered patent attorney by day, constitutional-liberties-crusader by night Thomas Huff gives advice to Koch summer intern Christine Frye ("just attend as many IHS seminars as possible... )

Ben Parizek & Libby Barringer

Ben Wyche strikes his best 'happy-to-be-alive' pose.

Behold the Floating Head of Jason Talley! (this reminds me of one of those Olan Mills photos from the 80s with the head superimposed above the main portrait, except there is no main portrait. Why? Because Talley smashed it! .. Oh, what's that? He's no longer at Buereaucrash? He's at Atlas? Oh, um, because he politely researched it away, then.)

Aaron Biterman rallies recruits for the DC Republican Liberty Caucus

Reason's David Weigel & IHS' Amy Phillips

Koch Summer Intern Christine Frye eschews Bailey's $2 pints for more summery fare.

IHS's Laura Schonmuller & Atlas/AFF's Cindy Cerquitella

Karaoke begins!

Cord Blomquist does the Bee Gees.

August 12, Arlington Allies Happy Hour

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:45:55 +0000

Two-dollar pints?!? Only in Virginia, darlings. And only if you love liberty. Which of course you do, or you wouldn’t be reading Doublethink Online, right? So join the Va. wing of The Young and the Libertarian tomorrow night for an IHS-Atlas-Koch-IJ-Mercatus-etc.-sponsored happy hour at Bailey’s Pub & Grille (4238 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; two blocks from the Ballston Metro stop), beginning at 6 p.m. Registration is requested.

AFF’s Beautiful People Need Your Votes!

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:35:59 +0000

With Congress on vacation, it’s good to see this city’s media outlets can take some time to focus on what really matters this summer: who’s hot. Or not just hot—hottest. In the wake of The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill hoopla, MediaBistro has begun it’s 4th-Annual “Hottest Media Types” contest, and AFFers J.P. Freire and Carrie Sheffield are finalists. You can vote as many times as you like, so get voting! Or better—get those robot things that dominated last year’s contest voting. Yeah, last year’s contest got pretty ridiculous, but I’m sure our candidates would never go negative …

Tonight, Doublethink Launch Party @ Science Club

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:44:49 +0000

Come out to the Science Club (1136 19th St. NW) at 6 p.m. tonight to celebrate the launch of Doublethink’s summer print issue, featuring articles by Donald P. Yoest (”The Wonks of Sam’s Club,” a piece about Grand New Party authors Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam), Upturned Earth’s John Schwenkler (”Some Like It Raw: Big Dairy, Big Government, and the debate over unboiled milk”) and Matthew Lickona (”Love is in the Air: One ‘repressed’ Catholic guy’s plea for modesty”). Free copies for the first 20 guests.

Aug. 5-9, Neil Hamburger, Lizz Winstead, Todd Barry and more

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:27:33 +0000

Neil Hamburger, “the world’s worst stand-up comedian,” will be at Black Cat this Wednesday. In addition to releasing his own comedy records, Hamburger—a Kaufman-esque character played by Gregg Turkington—has opened for Tenacious D, hosted a web show on Tom Green’s site, appeared in advertisements for mountain-rock darling Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and been a regular on Fox’s Red Eye, among other bizarre endeavors. His most recent project is a country album, Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners. I’ve watched about 16 YouTube clips of the whole Hamburger-rigamorale, and I just … don’t get it. I mean, I find him alternately too subtle and too over-the-top to be very funny. But I’ve heard good things from others; maybe you need to see him live. Anyway, the show starts at 9 p.m.; Daiquiri (which appears to be some sort of heavy-metal parody band?) opens; tickets $10.

If you’re more into free and local comedy, check out Top Shelf’s DC Comedy Fest at Solly’s Tavern (11th & U NW) this week. Free preview show starts tonight at 8:30; the rest of the week (excluding Wednesday) it’s at 7 p.m. and costs $5.

For much, much more on the official DC Comedy fest, see here. Some highlights:

• Lizz Winstead, co-creator and former head writer of The Daily Show, performs at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse Thursday and Friday.

• Mike Allen, Politico’s chief political correspondent, hosts a “Politics is Funny” panel Saturday, featuring writers from the Colbert Report, the Tonight Show, The Onion and others.

• Todd Barry, the bongo-playing “third Conchord” from HBO’s Flight of the Conchords performs Saturday

And more.

AFFers About Town: TechRepublican party

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:58:45 +0000

At TechRepublican’s second summer soiree, the booze was free, the David All Group-ies were omnipresent, and I heard very few people actually talking about anything tech-related. Photos from last night’s shindig under the cut; Kristen’s previous TechRepublican paparazzi-ing here.

: The Official Sign.

: Americans for Tax Reform’s Derek Hunter - shielding himself from the camera’s gaze or letting us know what drink he’s on? (with co-worker Adam Radman)

: American Spectator’s J.P. Friere with Megan Iversen and Victoria Bruce. I don’t know where these two ladies work, but according to Google they are either students at GW, filmmakers, people who graduated college in 1994, authors of a book about Volcanos or Girl Scouts. [EDIT: I have been informed that both Megan and Victoria are newly minted graduates of GW's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy master's program.]

: The American Spectator’s Philip Klein and Shawn Macomber.

: It wouldn’t be a summer conservative event in this city without at least one man in a seersucker suit (but dude gets extra bonus points for rocking SADDLE SHOES! Technologically and sartorially forward, this one).

: David All Group-ies: account executive Joe Mansour and intern/event organizer Abby Alger

: David All, of the eponymous David All Group, with Elizabeth Terrell and Someone Whose Name I Don’t Remember.

: Cato’s Joey Coon, the man formerly known as AFF’s Doublethink Online editor, & Ms. Brooke Oberwetter, who kindly informed me that she gets editorial control of all photos taken of her. She approved this photo.

July 31 (tonight!), Happy Birthday Milton Friedman

Elizabeth Nolan Brown — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:40:09 +0000

Quick hit: Join AFF, CEI and The Heritage Foundation in celebrating the birth of everyone’s favorite free market economist. The capitalism-loving cabal will screen The Ultimate Resource in Heritage’s Allison Auditorium at 6 p.m.; reception follows. RSVP’s requested. More info here.

July 28: Screen on the Green

Anna Pope — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:31:22 +0000

Screen on the Green 2008 is upon us! This Monday at dusk (8:30-9pm) that old classic Arsenic and Old Lace will be playing on the Mall (between 4th and 7th streets). Grab your blanket and claim your spot early, as the prime real estate goes fast. Your conservative brethren from the First Friday crowd are heading out there as well so keep an eye out. Besides, is there anything more intriguing than little old ladies poisoning people?