You know I’ll be rooting for dem Saints tonight in the Super Bowl. But I’m glad to have this occasion to recall my hometown Redskins: Offensive lineman Russ Grimm was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Big fella earned three Super Bowl rings during the Joe Gibbs era.
The Town. The Penn. The Langston. The Highland. The Tivoli.
Those were movie theaters in Washington, D.C., back when I was growing up in the 1970s.
Actually, they were on their last legs then... showing horror movies and blaxploitation and stuff. By the mid-’80s, they were out of business. Closed down.
Isn’t there something sad and ghostly about a boarded-up movie house?
Below is a 5-minute film made in 1984 by John Heyn. (Uploaded to the internets by my friend Jeff Krulik.) It is an elegy to D.C.’s once-vibrant cinema houses.
One was the Atlas on H Street in Northeast. Which is where I saw “Buck and the Preacher” and a Godzilla flick.
If you have any memories to share of these old D.C. theaters, I’d like to hear them. As well as any news about these buildings being put to use nowadays.
Boris Willis likes to dance. I mean, he really likes to dance.
Now on the faculty of George Mason University, Boris spent the past year doing something cool. From May 2007 to May 2008, Boris Willis made a short video every day... of himself dancing around Washington, D.C. And he posted those videos to YouTube.
Below are three of his “Dance-A-Day” vids, with Mr. Willis busting modern-dance moves outside of Union Station... under a blossoming cherry tree in Malcolm X Park... and on 18th Street in the heart of Adams Morgan.
Come August, a Washington institution will celebrate its 50th anniversary... Ben’s Chili Bowl.
Coincidentally, I just returned from Indiana, where I met a guy called “Punk Rock Don.” When Don found out I was from D.C., the first thing he asked me about was Ben’s Chili Bowl.
I never hung out at Ben’s. But back in the ’80s, I was one of a group of reporters who interviewed Bill Cosby inside the restaurant. Cosby is a famous fan; he used to take Camille there on dates.
Among others who’ve eaten at Ben’s Chili Bowl: Martin Luther King, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Marian Anderson, Dinah Washington, Miles Davis, Redd Foxx... on up to the new breed: Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Dr. Dre, Allen Iverson, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton...
Below is a 2½-minute video recently done by the U.S. government’s Voice of America service. If it doesn’t make you hungry for a half-smoke, there’s something wrong with you.
You know I’ll be rooting for dem Saints tonight in the Super Bowl. But I’m glad to have this occasion to recall my hometown Redskins: Offensive lineman Russ Grimm was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
