Hot Band @ A Cool Store

I never thought I'd grow up to regret a book store, and I have to say I used to like the big chains, before I realized how much they threaten the independents out there. I'm glad to report that we still have a selection of very good book stores in this town, and Politics and Prose is one of the best. This Sunday they will be celebrating their 25th anniversary with a cool party and a great local band that sounds and feels like New Orleans- Little Red and the Renegades.


(Little Red has a literary reference of its own - a mention in the George Pelecanos' novel Nick's Trip.)
The party starts at 4. Zydeco dance lessons begin at 5, and the band hits it around 5:30 in the parking lot. There will also be a picnic. See their store website for details.
Gotta love a dance in a parking lot.

PELECANOS ALERT

THIS Thursday George Pelecanos is having a reading at Busboys and Poets, one of my favorite hang outs down on 14th near U Street. It's a bar, a book store, a coffee house- a place dear to my heart because there are so many choices. (Where else does the host ask if you'd like a table or a couch?)

And I am not sure that there is another writer out there that captures true local Washington like DC's own George Pelecanos. He may be famous for his crime novels, but his fiction has a dead ring of truth.
6:30 p.m. Free.

Another Reason Why DC Rocks

George Pelecanos is a guy who knows D.C. He grew up here, hung out here, and he has the gift to take what he knows and competently spin it into stories. He doesn't write about those transient types that tend to come and go every four years or so. His books are more likely to be set on Lamont Street than Pennsylvania Avenue. His characters come from cops, sales men and street wise types-the real grit and glue that hold DC together. (or try to tear it apart)
And he is very, very good at it. My favorite The Big Blowdown was set in DC in the 1940s. I gave it to my father who excitedly recognized old haunts, and passed it on. Then my copy disappeared somewhere amongst my cousins, but I still remember the story.

This Thursday evening George will be signing books and reading from his newest The Way Home starting at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose- a full service and independent book store/ cafe.