The Weekend Review

This weekend I fully took advantage of a smattering of DC metro area delights.  I stumbled into a variety of events without really making plans, and it turned out to be a great weekend.

It started off with a Friday night of live music at the State Theater in Falls Church.  A variety of bands performed, including 

NUMA, Everyone but Pete, and Blind Rhetoric, but the real highlight of the evening was the headlining band, Sematic.  With a sound similar to the early nineties era of rock (think modern day version of Alice in Chains meets Sound Garden meets Stone Temple Pilots) Sematic lit up the stage and set the crowd wild...including myself.  The lead singer Tim Gilbert (who is new to the group), did a phenomenal job.  He worked the crowd like a seasoned pro.  I'm not one to get caught up in the local music scene, but Sematic is a band I will be trying to see again.

Moving on to Saturday, I had the chance to see some of the US trials for the Homeless World Cup.  I saw teams from all over the country competing for the chance to participate in the 2008 Homeless World Cup taking place in Melbourne, Australia.  It was absolutely fascinating to me, and actually inspired me to go see the documentary, Kicking It, at the E Street Cinemas.  The documentary follows players from around the wor

ld, and their struggles as homeless people in their own countries, and the motivation and hope that soccer gives them.  It made me want to go out and buy a soccer ball...and also understand homelessness a little better.

And Saturday evening, I enjoyed my first taste of Ethiopian cuisine at Dukem.  It was delicious.  I had been trying to convince StuD to go to an Ethiopian restaurant with me for about a year now.  Finally, once he moved to the U St. neighborhood, he says "Let's go to this Ethiopian place and try it out!" as if it had been his idea all along.  Whatever, I was just happy to go.  Since it was our first time, the waitress was extremely helpful and explained the menu, and gave us some "beginner" suggestions.  Top notch, top notch.

Ok, enough raving about my good, deep, and insightful weekend and back to being bitter and salty for a Monday morning at work.  Gross.