Outdoor Opera

The Washington National Opera season's started up again, bringing with it a ton of events aimed at filling seats with first-time operagoers. One is this concert at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza of selections from operas in the 2008-2009 season, including La Traviata, The Pearl Fishers, and Carmen. Even if this is the extent of your exposure to opera, you're sure to recognize something. The WNO also has a really great program offering tickets to people under 35 at deep discounts.

WNO's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Perform a Lunch Series Concert
Thursday, Sept. 25
Noon-1:30
FREE

H Street Festival

Street fair season continues with the H Street Festival on Saturday, September 20. There's quite a range in attractions-from burlesque to a former Redskins cornerback-so your whole posse is bound to find something of interest. Hint for the non-Metrobus savvy- you can get on the X2 at Gallery Place under the big gate and it'll take you all the way down H Street. If you get there early grab a latte at lovely Sidamo, one of the most pleasant coffee shops in the city.

H Street Festival
1200-1400 H St. NE
Saturday, Sep. 20 12-6
FREE

Frozen Tropics: H Street Festival Saturday

Adams Morgan Day

I've noticed it too...it's getting darker, hints of yellow are blossoming on the leaves, fall is quickly approaching. Take advantage of the gorgeous end of summer/beginning of fall weather and come out to Adams Morgan Day! What, Adams Morgan is alive, awake and running during the day?! Shocking, I know. I had a hard time believing it at first too. Adams Morgan makes for a great stroll without the lingering waft of Jumbo Slice (and etc.)

Sunday the street is closed off to cars and will be celebrating local vendors and local performs. Food and fun for the whole family.

In the very least, you should check out Batala, who will be performing on the Dance Stage (basketball courts) at 1:30pm. They're an all-female afro-brazilian drum band and amazing (it may be that one of the blog writers is in the band).

Adams Morgan Day
18th St. NW, between Florida Ave and Columbia
http://www.adamsmorgandayfestival.com/
noon-7pm
FREE

Free snacks and a steel drum band?!

Quick update on tonight (from The Washingtonian):

Hudson the restaurant celebrates the winding-down of summer with an extended happy hour featuring a bunch of tropical-themed specials ($5 Red Stripes; $8 Dark & Stormies) and a buffet of free hors d’oeuvres. The party kicks off at 7 PM with a steel-drum band. At 9, DJ Adrian Loving takes over until midnight. Entry is free and open to anyone—RSVP to Victoria@vmpublicrelations.com.

2030 M St., NW
202-872-8700

Architecture Week

Some of this year's Architecture Week events are a little pricey and may only appeal to hardcore architecture enthusiasts or people planning on building their own homes. But if you keep meaning to pay a visit to the National Building Museum, this event's a good excuse:

Sunday, September 14, 10-4
Student Competition
Meet the next generation of Washington architects and watch them at work. Students from local architecture schools are challenged by an intriguing design problem (which remains a closely guarded secret until a week prior to the competition). They will work all day to come up with a solution.

Location: National Building Museum | 401 F Street, NW
Metro: Judiciary Square

FREE.

Apartment Therapy: Event Alert: DC Architecture Week

Big Bear Anniversary Party

What goes better with coffee than a whole roasted pig? To celebrate its one year anniversary (a few months late), Big Bear Cafe is throwing a little shindig on Sunday evening with the aforementioned swine, a keg, and some live music. It's not clear from the website when exactly it starts, but apparently there'll be another barbecue earlier in the day at Big Bear to benefit the Haitian Boys Choir.

Big Bear Cafe
1700 First Street NW

Big Bear Year Anniversary Party, this Sunday Evening 9/14

Going Out Gurus bachelorette party guide

Planning a bachelorette party can be a daunting task if you've never done it; and if your friend isn't the penis straw/scavenger hunt type, it can be even trickier to give her a memorable night. The Washington Post's Going Out Gurus have published a handy list of places to take a bride-to-be. The format- grouping agendas by categories like "Wild Child" and "If you put a tiara on me you'll regret it"- is a little reminiscent of a quiz for finding your perfect fall bag in Cosmo, but you can mix and match or use the list as a jumping-off point to craft the perfect sendoff.

DC Libary Downloads

The DC public library system has plenty of issues, but it still beats shelling out $25 for a book you'll probably only read once. And even the greatest program in the world wouldn't be able to remove the hassle of actually going to a library, right? No longer! The truck pictured here is the "Digital Bookmobile," which has partnered with the DC public library to raise awareness about the library's digital media collection. On the Digital Bookmobile you can download free audiobooks, ebooks, music, and video to your laptop or some portable music players, including the iPod. It's parked at the site of the old convention center on H and 10th. After it leaves town, you can access the library's digital collection by downloading software from the library's website. You're not going to find every title on your Netflix queue or reading list, but it's worth a look.


Downloadable Media at the DC Public Library

Drama at Mayorga Lounge

So I'm not the only one who's sad about the closing of Mayorga Lounge- turns out Mayorga isn't so thrilled either. A press release posted on the company's blog states "It is unfortunate that Sonic Boom [the company who had the license for Mayorga Lounge] has chosen unilaterally – and we believe in violation of our contract — to change its business from a coffee lounge to a sushi restaurant. We are heartened by the many customers who have expressed their appreciation for and enjoyment of Mayorga Coffee. While we share your concern that the neighborhood is losing an important, locally-owned small business, the simple fact is that we did not operate this store and had nothing to do with its abrupt closing.”


Mayorga Coffee Talk: Mayorga Coffee Comments on Sonic Boom, Inc.’s Unauthorized Closure of Tivoli’s Mayorga Lounge

A Street Car Named Desire

"Stella! Hey, Stella!"

Can't put your finger on the 45th most recognizable quote in film history (according to the American Film Society)?? Well, you should be heading over to the Smithsoniam American Art Museum. That is, if you work in the Penn Quarter area (or for some lucky reason aren't sitting in an office at quarter-to-six). The free film begins Wednesday, September 3rd at 6pm.

Smithosonian American Art Museum
Address: 8th and F Streets, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red, Yellow, and Green lines)