Some Rents are Bigger Than Others

It's snowing outside. Not snowing. Raining. Or Icing. That's very Washington precipitation, when ice falls directly from the sky and we're given a number for the accumulation of ice that's expected. Three quarters of an inch. ¶Whatever. The government got shut down at 2PM, fast-forwarding the impending traffic jam by three hours. Now everyone is sleeping restlessly, some praying for a snow day, others not being able to sleep until they figure out whether or not they get the day off tomorrow. I feel the worst for the school teachers who have to figure it out by 5.30 AM. ¶Luckily, our heat kicked back in with a vengeance yesterday. I saw some suspicious activity by maintenance staff around 9.00 PM, so they've been working away, and then wham, yesterday morning I felt the heat emanate from the pipes in the bathroom. It is a small miracle-fixing the heat in only 5 days. Thanks guys. Staying home on a snow day without heat would just suck. 'Cuz what if you had to go to the office just to get away from the cold at home? ¶I promised myself I wouldn't do this blog thing. When you start gushing about cool music and restaurants and hoping someone else taps into your opinion and values it, or else simply recognizes you as an authority. No, I swore I would never do that (just like I swore that I would never blog), BUT, here I am, just returned from the greatest live show on the whole east coat (and perhaps west coast and the gulf coast too). My favoritest band of the present (and the past 3 years): STELLASTARR*. Great, great, adrenalin. I heard them here in DC way back when, and then heard them again when The Killers (ah, yeah . . I know them) were OPENING for them. That's how great they are, and while The Killers have totally sold out to marketing hell, Stellastarr* stays true to their music, which would sound so cliché if it wasn't the truth. They make really good music, and what's more, they know how to perform it. I've heard them live four times now and they never disappoint. Gush, gush, gush. Why are they so great? Check 'em out and find out. ¶Venue was the Rock'n'Roll Hotel-a place I've always heard about but never seen. Way out in dangerous NE, on a street that I've never set foot even after all these years in DC. As were waiting in the falling ice and waiting to be let in, I told a friend, hey-this street reminds me of U Street way back in the day. (Back when you could get robbed regularly, but with respect). His response: 'You mean before U Street its balls cut off?' And I said yeah, back then. I spent the rest of the night contemplating Washington's many hoods and imagning myself being forced to live in NE (bet¶I was also there with my bestest, bestest friend ever Susanna. She's a big Stellastarr* fan too. She lives way up in Friendship Heights because it's safe, way safer. I convinced her to move to Logan a long time ago and she prompty got mugged. Since then, she's put up with the quiet open yards of quasi-DC, which is the part that feels nothing like a city.