Celebrating 20 years of randomly choosing screwing over your friends.

(Not their motto, but the one we’re giving it.)

Stay tuned for more on this infamous brunch in the next few days.

Break out your India-themed clothing. The India Embassy is hosting an upcoming concert and that — or business attire — is the recommended frock of the evening.

On April 30, guests are being invited to the India Embassy for the DC Jazz Fishman Young Artist Series, featuring artists such as vocalist Marianne Solivan, pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Matthew Parrish, and percussionist Gregory Hutchinson. Also in attendance will be the B.O.D. of the DC Jazz Festival and Ambassador of India to the U.S. H.E. Nirupama Rao.

Unfortunately, the most famous name on the Board of Directors, Roberta Flack, will not be attending.

If you’re a man, see your clothing options after the jump… Read more

Somewhere, someplace is an archery range with FNC Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry‘s face as the bull’s-eye.

CQ Roll Call White House Correspondent Steven Dennis let his White House Correspondents’ Association membership lapse. He renewed it, but decisions had been made. The publication isn’t getting all the seats it wants this year. It’s a better deal than some pubs, which got shut out entirely. Still, this year there will be one table for CQ Roll Call. No extra tickets possible. Pretty strange considering CQ Roll Call has purchased tables at the WHCD for the past 20 years. A recent exchange between the publication and Henry, this year’s president of the WHCA and once the HOH writer for Roll Call, made it clear that the answer was no and that the seats had sold out.

We asked CQ Roll Call to comment on the matter.  Read more

Donning a dark suit from the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker spent much of Monday in a mild state of panic before the big evening launch party. Creating a new publication can do that to a person. So could launching it on the day of a terrorist attack when parts of downtown Washington were in lockdown mode. Still, Rare, the new conservative news outlet banked by Cox Media Group, successfully rolled into town this week with an elegant cocktail party at the Newseum. Guests pass through a gauntlet of drinks, as pictured above. Turnout was high — about 250. The mood was low-key but buzzing with a specialty bourbon drink with honey and lemon and miniature tureens of Butternut Squash soup.

Rare‘s Publisher Leon Levitt was in full mingle mode. “We think there’s an opportunity for a strong conservative voice that’s not mean spirited,” said Levitt, senior veep at Cox. Really, never mean? “I think you can have an edge without being mean,” he replied.

Though Levitt’s clearly on the business side of the operation, he studied journalism at the University of Las Vegas in 1979. Asked what he learned there, he said, “The most important thing is honesty and integrity.” Then he leaped into the state of journalism today. “We have made journalism much more time-starved,” he remarked. “If you can find the 25th hour in someone’s day, you win.”

Soon enough we got down to the business of asking the members of Rare‘s staff to name the rarest thing about themselves. It’s not an easy question — you don’t want to seem like a pompous prick and yet you’d like to think there’s something worth mentioning. As we reported earlier in the week, American Spectator Editor Bob Tyrrell struggled with the question and finally declared he wasn’t a narcissist like ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner and had no response. He told us to bug his wife, Jean, about it. But she slipped away before we could grill her.

The first person we approached, Rare‘s Managing Editor Tabitha Hale, had an easy time with her answer. “I’m a bit of a hippie,” the long wavy hair blonde in the vintage-style low-cut dress said. “I was raised by Dead Heads.” She spent six years in Nashville working in publishing followed by stints at Freedom works and The Franklin Center. With the tattoo “Love” cascading down her left arm, it was clear she wasn’t a typical political Washington type. She told us she has two other tattoos — one, Ephesians 6, 12 and 13 on the top of her foot; the other she wouldn’t initially discuss (our imaginations went to bad places) but ultimately she said it was something tribal on her back.

Anneke Green, a Rare contributor, also didn’t have to think too hard. “I have a motorcycle, an ’86 Rebel 450,” she said. “They only made them for two years.”

Read about more rarities, see who showed up…

Read more

The American Beverage Association is enticing Capitol Hill staffers and journalists to their soirée this afternoon in the Senate Hart Office Building for a sober time filled with ice cream floats and other specialty drinks.

Hurry up. It’s from 4p.m. to 6p.m. today.

“Guests will be able to quench their thirst with traditional soda pop favorites and try some new products,” said Chris Gindlesperger, Senior Director of Public Affairs. “We’ll also be serving ice cream floats!”

When pressed on the matter, Gindlesperger elaborated. “As you know, we’re the non-alcoholic beverage industry, so, in terms of drinks, think: Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Honest Tea, Gatorade, Powerade, Dasani, Aquafina.”

A good visualization of their member companies brands is here.  All will be offered today along with light fare.

Leading up to the White House Correspondents’ Weekend, The Creative Coalition’s and Lanmark Technology Inc. will host a dinner Friday, April 26, to promote the continuing support for the arts in America.

All eyes are sure to be on Sharon Stone, who will be attending with the Creative Coalition entourage.

The venue is Neyla in Georgetown. The other hosts and Creative Coalition members: Tracy Morgan, Sam Trammell, Kevin McHale, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Daly, Patricia Arquette, Leslie David Baker, Josh Radnor and Beth Behrs, among others.

See sponsorship details… Read more

There’s no way to write “weiner” or “Weiner” without it sounding dirty. Turns out it’s difficult to even discuss former ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) without at least one penis joke popping into the conversation.

Such was the case last night at the launch of the new conservative media outlet, Rare, at the Newseum where American Spectator founder Editor-in-Chief Bob Tyrrell was mingling and toasting his longtime friend and Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker (both pictured at right). Asked if he was worried about Rare digging in his readership, he remarked, “I’m not nervous about much of anything, especially after a glass of wine.”

The longtime conservative Washington editor reasoned, “Financially we’re a lot stronger than the liberal media. Rare is starting out, I think it looks very promising.” Tyrrell joked about the Washington Post constantly changing it’s bottom line. And what about TWT‘s ongoing financial issues? “They’re still coming out everyday,” he replied.

Turns out Tyrrell is quite the talker after a little vino. We’re not suggesting he was inebriated, just that he was ready to let his hair down a little and dish, especially on the recent NYT Magazine story about Weiner. Asked to name the rarest thing about himself, Tyrrell hemmed and hawed and struggled to come up with an answer. Instead he said, “Answering this question assumes that I’m a narcissist. You want a narcissist? Ask Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. Weiner? Hell, he’ll even send you a picture!”

Asked if he’d read the lengthy weekend magazine story on Weiner, Tyrrell said that there have been a shocking three NYT stories on Weiner in recent days, including a piece by Frank Bruni. “I found it soporific,” he said of the magazine feature (which means it induced drowsiness, much like a narcotic). “He’s interested in you women, so how you feel about him matters.”

And then, the penis joke. Read more

This is too much!

In Wednesday’s Politico Playbook, Mike Allen writes about the MSNBC Joe Scarborough‘s surprise 50th birthday party. Allen, a “Morning Joe” regular, posted a variety of pictures, including one of NBC’s David Gregory in the moonlight, he wrote about “Le Menu” — which included mini burgers and mini pastrami bites — and then he concluded with a big mass of sightings, which included none other than himself.

CQ Roll Call is hosting its annual cocktail soirée at the Washington Hilton prior to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 27.

Martini glass rating (1-4): 3 Once you’re into the Hilton it’s not that hard to get into all the parties. Getting into this won’t isn’t impossible, but it’s not a sure thing, either. Some pre-parties are strict, with gatekeepers holding fast to their clipboards at the door. Others are more lax. (The rating system: One martini glass is easy, four is impossible)

In the D.C. dining scene, Graffiato’s Mike Isabella‘s porcine cuisine reigns supreme. Sunday night, DC diners had the opportunity to stuff their faces with pork at Cochon 555. The  competition-style event gives 5 chefs 5 different breeds of heritage pigs and let them create a pork-centric menu for diners willing to pay for the all-you-can-eat event. Diners grazed throughout the evening, which took place at the Newseum, and vote for their favorite chef at the end of the night.

Not only did diners get a chance to eat like maniacs, there were cocktails, wine and beer at every turn to make sure every attendee could wake up the next day with a nasty mix of hangover and meat sweats. The competing chefs, Mike Isabella, Jeff Buben, Kyle Bailey, Haidar Karoum, and Bryan Voltaggio each rolled out several dishes, including desserts that had people rolling out of the Newseum in a food coma. Some highlights included Voltaggio’s chocolate truffles with lard caramel and crushed pretzels, Buben’s Porky Sticky Buns, Bailey’s “Pigs in a Blanket,” Karoum’s “Thing-a-ma-Pig” candy bar, and Isabella’s “Fat Arancini,” a porky rice ball that was breaded and fried.

In the end, Isabella’s table, which had been transformed into “Isabella and Sons” meat shop, complete with little butcher hats, was crowned the winner. A picture of his entire menu is after the jump…

Food porn and party pics, anyone? Read more