Roundup of July 4th entertainment

Getting back to normal in Rehoboth Beach

Your favorite businesses are back and ready for the Fourth

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

What we once considered normal before the pandemic has returned to Rehoboth Beach, Del., with a vengeance. Just try to get a hotel or rental house for anytime this summer and you will generally find yourself out of luck. I recommend finding a friend to crash with. Traffic is crazy and the restaurants and bars are packed, which is what I and many of the business owners predicted back in April. Despite all this it’s a fantastic place to vacation.

I arrived at 7:15 a.m. (having left D.C. at 5 a.m.) on Friday the weekend before the 4th to celebrate a friend’s 70th birthday. I headed straight to The Coffee Mill before stopping at my town house. You can park without feeding the meters until 10 a.m. By 8 a.m. there was a line patiently waiting for a cup of PAMALA STANLEY continues her residency at The Pines each Sunday at 6 p.m. their great coffee and some tasty breakfast pastry. Owner Mel showed me the new Mill Creamery he and Bob are opening, which will serve farm fresh ice cream from Hopkins creamery. It will open before the 4th.

Then I bumped into Steve Fallon, owner of Gidget’s Gadgets on Rehoboth Avenue, then bought my Washington Post at Browseabout Books and from there a quick stop at Fresh Market before the crowds.

In the afternoon, I walked the town visiting with friends. First a quick stop at Lori’s OY Veh Café in the CAMP courtyard, which as always was busy. Then on to Clear Space Theatre to confirm my ticket for Christopher Peterson’s opening night of EYECONS on Sunday, July 4th which I will attend with the town’s honorary Mayor Tony Burns. Eyecons will be at Clear Space every Saturday and Sunday evening thru Labor Day. Remember to buy your tickets early for all the great shows, which include Mama Mia!, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Sound of Music. Their productions over the years have been great and if the small group of residents trying to force them out of town finally loses their ridiculous fight, then Clear Space will have a beautiful new theater soon. They are a town treasure.

Then a walk from the boardwalk to 2nd street along Baltimore Avenue, the gayest block in Rehoboth. I walked past great restaurants like Eden, Jam and La Fable each worth many visits. On to the second block and a stop at Elegant Slumming to chat with jeweler extraordinaire Philip and then a stop at his Philip Morton Gallery. Of course passing the iconic Blue Moon. For takeout there is nothing better than Frank and Louie’s on Baltimore Avenue.

Then a peek into Aqua Grill and The Pines where the great Pamala Stanley is now performing every Sunday night. My first evening included a stop at my favorite happy hour place Aqua Grill. As usual I went intending to drink a quick glass of wine and ended up staying for two hours because it is also the favorite place of so many in the LGBTQ+ community of Rehoboth.

But first it was off to meet the birthday boy and some of his family at The Purple Parrot and Biergarten on Rehoboth Avenue for lunch. They told me they intended to make a stop at Critter Beach to buy a gift for their dogs.

Then a quick stop at The Body Shop gym on 1st and Wilmington to check on my membership, which hasn’t been used since last summer. It’s really important as my summer excursions to Rehoboth always mean more food and drink than I am used to. I am lucky to be here for 10 days now and that will surely include stops at Coho’s Market and Grill on Rehoboth Avenue and a great dinner at Mariachi on Wilmington Avenue. There are too many great places to get to in 10 days but there will be plenty of time during the summer. Maybe I will be lucky enough to run into President Biden at his favorite ice cream place Double Dippers. On Saturday I got to eat dinner at the new Delmata on 1st street and recommend it highly. Then there is Diego’s and the new Square One; and we all look forward to the opening of Freddie’s Beach Bar sometime during the summer.

This will surely be a summer not to be missed in Rehoboth Beach as we recover from the pandemic and resume living our lives to the fullest.

CALENDAR By PRINCE CHINGARANDE Friday, July 02

Join the DC Center for its virtual job club, a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confi dence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking. The event begins on Zoom at 6 p.m. For more information, email careercenters@thedccenter.org.

Friday Tea Time and social for older LGBTQ adults will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. You are welcome to bring your own beverage. For access to the Zoom link, email: justin@ thedccenter.org

Saturday, July 03

The LGBTQ People of Color support group will be at 1 p.m. on Zoom. This peer support group is an outlet for LGBTQ people of color to come together and talk about anything affecting them in a space that strives to be safe and judgement free. There are all sorts of activities including watching movies, poetry events, storytelling, and just hanging out with others. For more information, please email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

International Day Fest will be at 3 p.m. at Bliss Nightclub. The event will be hosted by Luda and the DJ lineup includes DJ Trini & DJ Joe (Fr 93.9 wkys FM), International DJ Stephens, DJ Ablazin (Ablazin Radio), DJ Bimshire, DJ Footloose (Lexus Superior), Jason Frass, DJ Ghost, DJ Spice, Barrie Hype. Tickets are between $30 and $250 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Sunday, July 04

Fourth at The Wharf: VIP Fireworks Viewing Experience will start at 7 p.m. at 101 District Square, S.W. 760 Maine Ave. S.W. Tickets are $40. To save a spot, visit Eventbrite.

Mer Events will host a rooftop party at 7 p.m. at the Homewood Suites Rooftop Lounge. Tickets are $65 and include entrance and a drink. There will be canned cocktails, canned beer, and canned wine to minimize contact. A cash bar will be available afterwards. More information is available on Eventbrite.

Monday, July 05

The Center Aging Coffee Drop-in will be at 10 a.m. at the DC Center. LGBT Older Adults and friends are invited for friendly conversations about current issues that you might be dealing with. For more information visit Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter.

Tuesday, July 06

Center Faith will host “Interfaith Intersectional Forums” virtually at 7 p.m. This panel will explore the “how,” “why” and “impact” of collecting our stories. Panelists from a variety of faith traditions will discuss the impact of writing our history and sharing our stories. To sign up for the event, visit: https://www.facebook.com/centerfaith.

Wednesday, July 07

Book Men DC will be hosted virtually at 7:30 p.m. The event is an informal group of men who are interested in gay literature (both fi ction and non-fi ction). Most participants live in or near Washington, D.C., however, visitors to D.C. are always welcome to drop in and join the discussion. For more information, visit: bookmendc.blogspot.com.

Join the DC Center for a virtual job club, a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confi dence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking. The event begins on Zoom at 6 p.m. For more information, email careercenters@thedccenter. org.

Thursday, July 08

Join Whitman-Walker Health for The Lesbian Lens: Documenting the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The event will feature veteran photographers JEB (Joan E. Biren), Sharon Farmer, Patsy Lynch and Leigh Mosley as they discuss their photographic works and experiences documenting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in and around Washington, DC.

OUT & ABOUT

The Wharf gears up for July 4th festivities

The Wharf will host a “VIP Fireworks Viewing Experience” on Sunday, July 4 at 7 p.m at 101 District Square, S.W., 760 Maine Ave. S.W.

The event will include access to the Dockmaster Building, two drink tickets (plus a cash bar) featuring Smirnoff’s new pink lemonade vodka, gourmet snacks, and a fantastic view of the National Park Service fi reworks show. This experience is presented by Smirnoff Red White and Berry. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online.

To register, visit the Wharf’s website.

Equality Virginia announces TIES 2021 summit event details

The 8th annual Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit (TIES) will take place virtually from Wednesday, Oct. 20 through Saturday, Oct. 23.

This year’s free conference will be fully digital again to ensure the health and safety of the Virginia community and provide the best experience amid the complexities of working around the COVID-19 pandemic. With this year’s virtual format, more people can make connections, get information, and access resources.

To save a spot, visit Equality Virginia’s website.

A scene from ‘The Legend of the Underground.’

(Photo courtesy HBO)

A new breed of heroes emerges in ‘Underground’ doc

Documenting the fi ght for freedom in Nigeria

By JOHN PAUL KING

We’re not complaining, but it’s a shame that the folks at HBO premiered “The Legend of the Underground” at the tail end of Pride month instead of the very beginning, because in many ways it is a documentary that exemplifi es and cuts right to the tender heart of what Pride is truly all about.

Directed by Nneka Onuorah and Giselle Bailey, this is not another look at the familiar history of the LGBTQ equality movement. It doesn’t celebrate the cherished champions and landmark victories that have paved the way for the advances that have bettered the lives of queer people today. It barely even mentions Stonewall. Instead, it casts its gaze on a chapter of LGBTQ history that is being written in the present tense, providing a searing and timely look at the struggle against rampant LGBTQ discrimination taking place in Nigeria today, introducing us to a new roster of heroes of the here-and-now as it follows the stories of several bold young non-conformists who are fi ghting for the freedom to live life out loud.

If you don’t feel up to date on current affairs in Nigeria, it’s not a surprise. Though the sheer extremity of the state-sanctioned human rights abuses going on in places like Chechnya has drawn some attention in the U.S., most Americans – at least those not tightly connected or involved with the activist community – get very little exposure to the plight of LGBTQ people in other countries beyond the generalized understanding that there are a number of places where things are pretty grim. For the sake of context, “The Legend of the Underground” documents the efforts of several young Nigerians to push back against repressive legislation and culturally embedded homophobia in their country, where an antiLGBTQ law known as the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill (SSMPA) has been used since 2013 as an excuse to harass, imprison, extort, and commit violence against anyone seen as not conforming to Nigerian societal and cultural norms around gender and sexuality.

Onuorah and Bailey center their movie around an incident that took place in August of 2018, in which 57 men who were attending a party in Lagos (Nigeria’s most populous city) were rounded up by police, arrested and forced in front of news cameras to be publicly humiliated by the arresting offi cers. One of them – who goes by the name James Brown – shocked the country by defying his captors and speaking out against the government while still in handcuffs; captured on camera, it was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment that went viral.

As the fi lm follows the ongoing saga of the legal case against James and the others arrested and accused at the party, it also focuses on another man, Michael Ighodaro, who fl ed his community in Nigeria after having been attacked for his identity. Now living in New York City as part of a chosen family with other friends from the Nigerian diaspora, he works from the other side of the globe to advocate for the people and communities he left behind, while settling into a new life as an LGBTQ rights and HIV prevention advocate.

The stories of these two charismatic fi gures are interwoven throughout. James and his circle of friends grapple with the option to either search for a haven abroad, as Michael did, or to stay and fi ght a system that seeks to silence them; Michael himself contemplates undertaking the risky trip back to Nigeria to reconnect with the activist community there. Along the way, we meet an array of other non-conformists, all of them at risk of persecution from their government. While some prefer the tenuous safety of blending in, others, like James, have parlayed a social media following into a sort of underground celebrity status, ignoring the obvious risks and using their platform as an opportunity not just to amplify their own voices, but to spark a cultural debate that challenges the ideals of gender, conformity, and human rights in Nigeria.

What emerges is a portrait of a new generation that uses social media, underground radio, and any other resources at their disposal to fi ght for their rights of personal expression – and while there are plenty of hard-to-watch moments that remind us how much hate and bigotry still exist in the world, there are even more that inspire us with the bold creativity and resilience of these youthful heroes or catch us off guard with their infectious humor. And while some viewers might feel these young people more closely resemble a rag-tag band of resistance fi ghters in some futuristic dystopian adventure than the fl ag-and-picketwaving marchers in our traditional image of protest, there is something about them which, as the fi lm goes on, seems more and more familiar.

Though “The Legend of the Underground” documents a new breed of activism, born of the digital age, it also reveals that the fi erce spirit that drove the heroes of our past is not only alive and well, but thriving. Fed up with being ostracized, stigmatized, bullied and worse, the new generation is fi ghting back just like those who came before them. Instead of staging protest marches, they stage protest parties; instead of publishing zines, they post videos on YouTube or Instagram. It’s different, but breathtakingly the same. If someone had been able to turn a cell phone on Marsha P. Johnson at Stonewall, it’s not hard to imagine that she would have created a viral moment much like the one that put young James Brown at the center of a cultural revolution in 2018. Imagine how differently things might have gone, if that had been possible then.

That’s why HBO’s new offering, which is also available on HBO Max, is perhaps 2021’s most inspiring cinematic expression of Pride so far. By showing us a present that has so many echoes of our own past, it instills in us an unexpected feeling of hope for the future. There’s a feeling of inevitability about these non-conformists, evoked by the certainty that their dissenting voices are reaching the ears of millions of young people that will shape the world to come, but also by the unmistakable parallels we fi nd with our history.

Yet this timely documentary is not here to simply inspire us with the promise of a better future – after all, that future is not here yet, and in the meantime, there are people like the ones captured on camera here who are facing dire risks every single day. “The Legend of the Underground” importunes us to help them in their fi ght, to spread the word and do whatever we can to cast a spotlight on the injustices and abuses of authoritarianism wherever it rears its ugly head. That, of course, is something else that’s at the core of Pride: the willingness to stand in solidarity with others who, like us, have had to fi ght for the freedom to be who they are.

As we are reminded by Michael in the fi lm, “None of us are free until all of us are free.”

‘Where We Belong’ explores connection between past, present

MADELINE SAYET in ‘Where We Belong.’

(Photo by Jon Burkland)

‘Where We Belong’ Streaming through July 11

Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in association with the Folger Theatre Library $21 | Woollymammoth.net

Indigenous playwright/actor traces a life that feels split

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

In 2015, Madeline Sayet chased a dream. The indigenous playwright/actor jumped the pond to England to pursue a Ph.D. in Shakespeare with a personal slant on colonization and native people. But once there, Sayet was met with resistance, blinkered Bard scholars weren’t sold on her approach.

In her revealing 80-minute solo show, “Where We Belong” (presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with the Folger Theatre Library), Sayet energetically assays herself and different characters as she traces a life that has sometimes left her feeling split.

Sayet’s mother, a medicine woman in the Mohegan tribe based in Connecticut, encouraged her young daughter to speak Mohegan (which Sayet does intermittently throughout the show), a dying language that’s been almost entirely snuffed out after years of ethnic cleansing by European settlers.

Her mission is to educate the world about native experience. Rather than write an assigned report on white settlers’ notion of Manifest Destiny, she turns in a paper on the Wounded Knee Massacre hoping her teachers might learn something.

Then, in rather high tone adolescent rebellion, teenage Sayet immersed herself in the language of Shakespeare, performing in his plays with a local company.

Initially, she fell in love with Shakespeare’s words. Her favorite work was “The Tempest.” She imagines it as a colonization; Caliban wasn’t a monster but indigenous, and Ariel, like Sayet (whose Mohegan name means “Blackbird”) was a bird.

“Fly, fl y” is a phrase repeated throughout “Where We Belong.” As a kid, Sayet was deathly afraid of fl ying. But as she grew older, fl ying became an integral part of who she is. She fl ew away to the UK to study Shakespeare and later fl ew to far-fl ung places to share her native experience and the Mohegan culture.

When Sayet studied Shakespeare abroad, her mother accused her of wanting to be white. She preferred her daughter remain in Mohegan territory, or close to it. And while for many of us Mohegan conjures up images of the tribe’s lucrative Mohegan Sun casino, nightclub, and last stops on Cher’s never-ending fi nal tour, it’s the adjacent historic sacred lands that are especially vital to the tribe. Sayet’s intention wasn’t to be white, but to spread her wings. During her frustrating stay in England, Sayet makes a pilgrimage to the gravesite of Mahomet, a Mohegan chief who traveled to London to in 1735 to petition King George II with complaints against Connecticut colony regarding land theft and broken treaties. While waiting for his appointment with the monarch, he contracted smallpox and died. He was buried in a then-unmarked grave at Southwark Cathedral just outside of London. Though impressed with his courage, she is saddened by the ultimate futility of her ancestor’s journey. Things get worse. A visit to a British museum accompanied by a callous curator ends badly when Sayet learns that the building’s inventory includes numerous indigenous skulls stored in unlabeled boxes. Soon after she considers a return to North America. She’s grown weary of being among the dead and wants to return to the living. Beautifully reimagined for an online performance by director Mei Ann Teo, “Where We Belong” was fi lmed at an empty theater at Woolly Mammoth in April. Sayet’s performance is prefaced with a nod (in a voiceover) to a brave tribal chief of the Piscataway whose people lived along the Potomac for many thousands of years. That chief demanded renumeration from colonial authorities after her daughter’s grave was robbed. It’s unclear whether justice was served. That is the Piscataway’s story to tell, says Sayet. Borders and barriers crisscross Sayet’s mind. Fittingly, the set is a low boundary of earth that ribbons diagonally across the otherwise bare stage. Above hang beautiful, glittering stars The haunting voices of ancestors remind Sayet, and all of us, of the connection between past and present.

VENUS THRASH died June 19 of heart disease.

(Blade photo by Michael Key)

Remembering queer D.C. poet Venus Thrash

‘She was the best citizen in the poetry republic’

By KATHI WOLFE

Venus Thrash, a Black, lesbian D.C. poet, wrote her fi rst poem when she was in the fi rst grade.

Thrash, 52, whose work was nationally acclaimed, died on Saturday, June 19 at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. from heart disease. Her family and 12-year-old son Daniel survive her.

Thrash, who had a master’s degree in fi ction and poetry from American University, taught in underserved high schools and women’s correctional facilities as well as in academic settings.

“I feel passionate about [teaching],” Thrash, whose poetry collection “The Fateful Apple” was nominated for the 2015 Pen America Open Book Award, told me in 2014. “Not only am I teaching in that exchange, I’m also learning.”

Though Thrash called D.C. her “adopted home,” her roots were in the Deep South. She spent her childhood summers in Rincon and Sylvania, Ga.

Thrash, who was open about her sexuality, sensed, as a child, that she was different.

“I am seven/I want to be an angel/because I have never been an angel,” she wrote in her poem “Angel.” “I must act like a lady/I have never acted like a lady/I have demanded to be called Vince.”

Thrash lived fully in her self, Black and queer, and that intersectionality infused her poetry and relationships, Sarah Browning, former director of Split This Rock, a D.C.-based poetry organization that works for social change, told the Blade.

In addition to being a fi nalist in the 2012 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize and the 2009 Arktoi Books Poetry Prize, Thrash was a coeditor of “Beltway Poetry Quarterly” and a co-director of The Word Work’s Joaquin Miller Poetry Series.

She was a Cave Canem fellow. (The Cave Canem Foundation, according to its website, was founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 “to remedy the under-representation of African-American poets in the literary landscape.”)

Thrash was featured at one of Split This Rock’s festivals. “Venus’s poetry is like Venus full of joy and outrage, and love,” Browning said. “Every time I saw her I was delighted by her fl irty, irreverent spirit.”

On social media postings after her death, Thrash was often described as “fi erce” because of her appearance – her shaved head, her androgynous way of dressing, Kim Roberts, founding editor of “Beltway Poetry Quarterly,” emailed the Blade. “But Venus was actually quite shy,” Roberts said.

Roberts loved the conversations that she and Thrash had about the intersection of gender and race. “I am Jewish and bisexual,” Roberts, editor of the anthology “By Broad Potomac’s Shore: Great Poems from the Early Days of Our Nation’s Capital,” said. “We both noted how different our own lived experiences were, yet we found joy from our long, freewheeling discussions.”

Grace Cavalieri, poet laureate of Maryland, knew Thrash before Thrash was a mother and well published. “I saw her enter the poetry scene – working for every D.C. institution to further poetry,” Cavalieri, founder/producer of the radio show “The Poet and the Poem,” said. “She was the best citizen in the poetry republic.”

Venus rolled with everybody, remembers poet Hayes Davis, author of “Let Our Eyes Linger.”

“If Venus called herself your friend, she would laugh with you, drink with you, talk shit with you … talk about relationships with you,” Davis said. “We could talk about parenting, we could talk about ourselves.”

In “The Fateful Apple,” you see a poet who is entirely at home with her body, her loves, her desires, her history – her friends, D.C.-area poet Joseph Ross emailed the Blade.

“I especially remember her generous kindness to my husband, who is not a poet,” Ross, author of “Raising King,” said. “At poetry gatherings, she often found us and made him and me feel at home.”

One of Thrash’s most powerful poems is “Uncivil,” a pointed, yet joyous rebuke to any government that dictates who we can love.

“There will be no parchment certifi cate stamped with any state’s approval/confi rming we’re married or in love,” Thrash writes in “Uncivil,” “But we will jump over a brand new straw/ broom, we will light candles & pour red/wine into the earth where our ancestors sleep.”

Thank you, Venus, for your poetry and your wonderful self. R.I.P.

After pandemic, local gay restaurateurs thriving at Knead

Berry, Reginbogin plan to open several new spots in coming year

By EVAN CAPLAN

At the outset of 2020, D.C.-based Knead Hospitality + Design founders and co-owners (and partners for more than 20 years) Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin envisioned big plans for their rapidly expanding realm of restaurants across the D.C. area.

“In March 2020, however, we thought that we were going to lose everything,” Reginbogin says.

Today, Knead has recovered, and then some. In the context of the sweep of more than 100 restaurant closings in D.C. since then, Berry and Reginbogin pulled out four restaurant openings, with several more planned for the rest of this year alone.

Not since the (somewhat slower) growth of Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup has the city seen a locally based fi rm with a diverse set of concepts open so widely. Andres launched the fi rst Jaleo back in 1993; his ThinkFoodGroup now runs 10 restaurants in D.C., plus stalls at Audi Field.

Yet Berry and Reginbogin promise that it’s not size that counts. “Biggest isn’t always best. We want to be the best operator in the city for the types of restaurants we offer.”

This spring’s opening of glitzy-retro diner Gatsby speaks directly to Reginbogin’s vision for that “our restaurants are experience-driven. They focus on the visual as much as the food and beverage offerings.”

Gatsby, located in Navy Yard, is a direct outgrowth of Berry’s belief that “like the Roaring ‘20s after the Spanish fl u, there’s all this pent-up demand…. People will want to celebrate life, and they want to be part of that return to society,” he says.

In 2014, Berry served as COO for the Rosa Mexicano Restaurants, and Reginbogin had been working as director of operations for other large brands like B.R. Guest Restaurants, TAO, Milos, and Sushi Samba. After living in cities like Los Angeles and New York, they decamped for Washington, D.C., a city they’d visited dozens of times for work, with an idea of creating their own style of dining experience.

Both having attended the University of Southern California, the two met on AOL in their early 20s and started dating soon after. They have worked in the restaurant industry for their entire careers.

“D.C. is a beautiful, diverse city,” says Reginbogin, “but of all the cities we had lived in, we felt there was the most opportunity in D.C. The growth of the restaurant industry has been because of a welcoming regulatory environment as well as a city of quality, unique, and amazing restaurants. We want to surround ourselves with peers who are of the same philosophy.”

He says that they felt at home, welcomed “both professionally but also personally.” To further connect them with the LGBTQ community, the pair ensured that they were prepared for Pride month, setting up drink and food specials at their restaurants, with proceeds going to LGBTQ organizations.

“There was always the question of being able to both live and work with your partner,” Berry notes, “but because we excel at different areas, it works out. Our background in the restaurant industry gives us the perspective on how the restaurant should be constructed.” When Berry and Reginbogin plan each new concept, they fi rst analyze its urban and social geography. By understanding the restaurant’s space, interior and exterior, they put together a concept and then a menu (often along with a celebrity chef) to follow. But they also target specifi c parts of town. “We tend to favor neighborhoods that are not reliant on one demographic for attracting a guest base,” says Reginbogin. “We tend to open where we can establish roots…. The pandemic taught everyone that it’s easy to lose a prized group of guests. You don’t want that one type to be the only guest you attract.” This outlook led them to Navy Yard, the Wharf, and Penn Quarter, among other neighborhoods. When they kicked off in 2015, opening Succotash in National Harbor, they invested some of their own capital, raised money from friends and family, and took on loan debt. “Our newer big restaurants are roughly $6-7 million projects. We are also opening smaller restaurants that cost signifi cantly less, in the The glam atmosphere at Gatsby showcases a focus on space and design as much as menu. $2 million range,” said (Photo courtesy Knead Hospitality + Design) Reginbogin. As of June, Knead operates fi ve other concepts: Succotash, Mi Vida, The Grill, Gatsby, and Mah-Ze-Dahr, which abuts Gatsby and is run by baker Umber Ahmad, a 2019 James Beard semifi nalist. They also run four quick-service stands inside Swingers, the massive adults-only minigolf concept out of London that just opened in Dupont Circle. Berry promises there is more to come in 2022 and beyond. Knead’s other planned openings this year include Bistro du Jour, Mi Casa, another Succotash location in Penn Quarter, and another Mah-Ze-Dahr by the new Amazon HQ. Back to Gatsby, the glam atmosphere showcases the group’s focus on space and design as much as menu. As the location is across from Nationals Stadium, the two envisioned an all-American restaurant. Yet the interior and atmosphere did not express to them a stereotypical diner with an Airstream and laminate-covered booths. Instead, the two visualized the swinging, Art Deco style of the 1920s when diners started to become popular. As it translates to plating, this means the overfl owing bowl of pasta that might appear on a multi-page diner menu is lightened and elegantly served; the Caesar salad is vegan. No detail is spared, from soaring ceilings and retro prints to translucent silver plates with textured patterns. “We want people to eat with their eyes,” Berry concludes. “Everything is important: the lighting, music, tableware, even the restrooms. If everything looks good and feels good, then everything tastes better, too.”

VALERIE M. BLAKE

is a licensed Associate Broker in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia with RLAH Real Estate. Call or text her at 202-2468602, email her via DCHomeQuest.com, or follow her on Facebook at TheRealst8ofAffairs.

When the A/C dies in the middle of a heat wave

Sweating it out while coping with unresponsive repair companies

By VALERIE M. BLAKE

When I sat down last Saturday to write this article, I had an entirely different topic in mind. I had planned to write something that connected houses and the Fourth of July, since buying my fi rst house was my own Independence Day, when I no longer had to rely on others for a place to stay and could exercise my decorating skills unfettered by a landlord.

I was happily reminiscing when my air conditioning compressor let out its last breath and the fan slowed, then stopped, just like in the movie “Total Recall” (the original one, with Arnold).

Now, this isn’t the fi rst time the unit has malfunctioned. For the past two summers, it’s been teasing me by allowing the thermostat to ignore my settings and letting the temperature in the house rise until several hours later, when the compressor will kick back on again.

Not this time.

It was still early enough in the afternoon that I tried to reach my home warranty company. I went on their website where, despite everywhere I looked, there was no direct way to make a claim. The instructions were to call them or request service through their cell phone app.

I downloaded the app, only to fi nd that I couldn’t log in because they had no record of me in the system. (I’ve been in their system for more than three years.) At that point, I gave up on technology and placed a call to the service number, where a nice lady took down my information and noted the problem.

She asked if I would prefer an appointment on Saturday (the same day), the following Monday, or the Tuesday thereafter. I replied that I would be available any of those days. She then said I would receive an email with the appointment day and time.

Saturday wore on until it was evident that nobody was going to provide same-day service or send a scheduling email. As usual, their contractors didn’t work on Sundays, but I had expected that, so over the weekend, I turned on my ceiling fans, began cutting the sleeves out of old T-shirts to make tank tops, and froze every gel pack I could fi nd.

On Monday morning, I received an email confi rming an appointment for Tuesday from 2-12. Yes, you read that right, 2-12.

I emailed back, “I think something is wrong here. Shouldn’t this be 12-2? Or perhaps you meant 2 am to 12 noon or 2 pm to midnight?” Shortly thereafter, I received a reschedule notice indicating the appointment time was now 12-4 p.m.

As with many D.C. homes, my air conditioning unit is installed in the attic, with the compressor located outdoors adjacent to the house. My attic access hatch is 18x20 inches and is accessible only through an 18-inch door in the hall closet. The closet shelves, when empty, resemble a staircase with steps of varying depths that lead to the hatch.

On Tuesday, I prepared for the appointment by removing everything from the hall closet. I piled sheets, towels, pillows, toiletries, and a laundry basket onto my bed, then I spent the afternoon in the backyard with the dogs, spraying them from the hose and dousing myself like a wet T-shirt contest. It was 89 degrees in the house and only 82 degrees outside.

By 3 p.m., I began to suspect the repair person was not coming. Gingerly, I picked up the phone and dialed the warranty company. After a minute or two of listing to the sincere recording tell me that my call was very important to them, a woman came on the phone and asked how she could help me.

I told her my address and asked if she could fi nd out where my house was on the roster of repairs for the day. She offered to call the dispatcher, promised to call me back if we got disconnected, and put me on hold. She never returned.

Twenty-two minutes later, I gave up and ended the call, only to fi nd another reschedule notice in my email, this time for two days later, Thursday, July 1, between 8-10 a. m. I went back outside and sprayed myself (and the dogs) with cold water again, which I expect I’ll be doing for several more days.

Does anyone have a Slip N Slide I can borrow?

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