The To Do List

Photo by María Helena Carey

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  If you are looking to celebrate with a margarita, we have plenty of places that serve up tasty ones in the neighborhood.  What’s your favorite?

This weekend is jam packed with the kick off of Capitol Hill Month; Mother’s Day; the Dead Man’s Run; the Capitol Hill House and Garden Tour; and Mother’s Day.  So let’s get started:

Thursday

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at the H Street Country Club with “adult piñatas,” $3 coronas, $5 margarita and plenty of food specials.

Also on Thursday, The Taffety Punk Theater Company presents Dance Craze, a new set of original works by area choreographers, on Fridays and Saturdays, May 6 – 21, 2011 at 8:00 pm and Saturday matinees at 3:00 pm at CHAW, 545 7^th Street SE. Tickets are $10 and available at http://www.taffetypunk.com.

Friday

Head over to The Fridge (Rear alley, 516 8th Street SE) to check out Rad Ladies That Drum, DC’s first all-women drumming showcase at. Kiran Gandhi (Rhythm & Culture) & Twink (Mambo Sauce) host DC’s first all-female drummer showcase. The night will be a celebration of all types of lady drummers and percussionists from the District of Columbia to showcase talent and creativity. There will be a drum jam at the end in which attendees and performers alike are encouraged to grab a drum and make some rhythms. All proceeds go to Tom Tom Magazine, a magazine about female drummers.

Or head over to The Atlas for From Berlin to Sunset.  “Imagine a musical gathering on a rooftop on Sunset Boulevard: Friedrich Hollaender is playing the tunes Marlene Dietrich sings in Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair, someone is praising Erich Korngold’s stunning music for Bette Davis’ Deception, someone else wonders why Hollywood has not made better use of Kurt Weill’s haunting songs, and many worry that Hanns Eisler might be deported!”  Ticket information can be found here.

Saturday

Stop by the H Street FRESHFARM market for the First Annual Mother’s Day Food Drive.  Bring non-perishable food items or grocery store gift cards to the market between 9am and noon.  The First Church of Christ Holiness will distribute items to mothers living at Brookland Manor.  For more information, email Julietglass [at] freshfarmmarkets.org

Also on Saturday, the Ward 6 Town Hall Budget Meeting will be held at 3:00pm at the Miner Elementary School.

Saturday night, stop by The Fridge (Rear alley, 516 8th Street SE) for The Beltway Poetry Slam and INCREDIBLE Buddy Wakefield.  Buddy Wakefield is the two time WORLD POETRY SLAM CHAMPION; has appeared on NPR, the BBC, HBO; has performed at The Great Lawn in Central Park, Scotland’s Oran Mor, House of Blues New Orleans, First Avenue, San Quentin State Penitentiary, among other famous venues; has published numerous books through Write Bloody Publishing and a poetry CD through Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records.  The show is from 7:30-9:30pm.

Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday and Sunday , join the Capitol Hill Restoration Society for the annual Capitol Hill House and Garden Tour, which includes a tour of the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital.  Each year since 1958, CHRS has organized a tour of homes, gardens and other structures on Capitol Hill. This annual event, held every Mother’s Day weekend, showcases approximately ten renovated buildings in the 200-year-old community.  The focus this year will be between 9th & 13th Streets SE below East Capitol Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. For a sneak preview of some architectural details… click here.  To see a MAP of the houses on this year’s tour click here.  To see the brochure click here. Tickets are $25 each in advance and $30 on the tour weekend.  Tickets will be available at Hill’s Kitchen and on the weekend at the CHRS table at Eastern Market.  For more information, visit chrs.org.

Sunday

Come out to Congressional Cemetery bright and early to see if you can spot a few of the THIH writers and editors running in the Dead Man’s Run 5K.  The race starts at 8am at the cemetery gates.

Then pick up some flowers for your mom, or any mom in your life (they all deserve appreciation on Mother’s Day!), and take her to brunch.  There is no shortage of brunch spots but many will require reservations or lining up early so plan ahead.  On H Street you have the Atlas Room, Liberty Tree, Granville Moore’s, and The Agronaut.  Near Union Station, try Bistro Cacao, Art & Soul, or B Smith’s.  At Eastern Market you can go Montmartre, Tunnicliff’s, or Le Pain Quotedien.  And on Barracks Row try Belga Café, Chesapeake Room, Zest, Matchbox or Ted’s Bulletin.  And that’s just to name a few of your options…

And that night, why not try some free ballroom dance lessons at Ebenezers (201 F Street NE) from 6-8?  Details can be found here.