THEWASHINGTONPOST.
FRIDAY,NOVEMBER27, 2020EZ
D.C.
is such a different city depend-
ing on what season it is, so in my
head, I have two different but
equally perfect days. If it’s the
spring or summer, I wake up, have some tea and head
over to the Congress Heights Arts & Culture Center
for yoga. It’s a Black-woman-owned gallery that
features a ton of different art from around the area.
My spring-summer day would be themed around
the south side of the city. I enjoy quiet spaces and I’m
definitely an introvert, so I would head over to the
Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens to take some
photos and take in nature for a little bit. There’s
nowhere else like it, really. Then I would get Good
Hope Carry-Out for some wings and some mumbo
sauce and head to Anacostia Park. I’d eat on the river,
hang out, people watch and maybe crochet, then go to
the skating pavilion and skate a little bit, too.
After some skating and a good meal, I’d go over to
the Fridge DC and take in some more art. They
specialize in that “counterculture is the culture” sort
of art work, and I just always love what they’re
showing. Since I’m in Eastern Market, I’d close out
my spring evening with District Soul Food. Paul
Spires, a good friend of mine, performs go-go, so I
would just vibe out with Paul, eating some soul food
and listening to go-go in the upstairs lounge.
Or if we’re in fall or winter time frame, I would
start my day by waking up, mashing some apples and
making hot cider at the house. My fall-winter day
would be more uptown, so I would visit the U.S.
Botanic Garden — that’s a nice little oasis — and go to
NuVegan Cafe o n Georgia Avenue for lunch. I don’t
know what they do or how they season it, but their
vegan mac and cheese is the answer. They also have a
faux barbecue situation, and the sauce hits so good.
I love hard ciders, so I would hit Capitol Cider
House farther up on Georgia Avenue and pregame
there before heading to Petworth Citizen [which
closed in February to merge with Loyalty Bookstore
next door] for 826DC’s lowercase open mic. There
would be a little bit of performance, and a lot of
listening.
Then I’d ride the 70 down to Hill Country
Barbecue Market for Rock ’n’ Twang Karaoke with
the HariKaraoke Band. I never would have a career in
singing, but live band karaoke is an experience that I
think everyone should have at least once — you really
do feel like a rock star. My go-to karaoke song is
“Dream On” by Aerosmith because their lead guitar-
ist nails the riff, and you just feel it.
Closing out that evening, I’d slide down to the
[National Gallery of Art’s] Sculpture Garden and ice
skate. So no matter which day it is, I’m going to skate,
I’m going to get some nature and I’m going to have
some delicious food with various sauces.
[email protected]My D.C. Dream Day
Itineraries from a seasoned rapper
In D.C. Dream Day, we ask our favorite people in the area to tell us
how they would spend a perfect day in the District.
Four years ago, Dwayne Lawson-Brown found artistic
inspiration in a most unlikely place: a plate of wings, and an
“abhorrent” excuse for mumbo sauce.
The poet and rapper was dining at a local restaurant with fellow
performer Drew Anderson when the runny, flavorless take on the
iconic D.C. condiment steered them into a dialogue about the flavors
that define their respective hometowns. For Lawson-Brown, a D.C.
native, it was mumbo sauce. For Anderson, who calls New Orleans
home, it was gumbo.
“It really became a conversation about home,” says Lawson-Brown,
36, who co-hosts the long-running open mic Spit Dat DC with
Anderson. “What does it look like, feel like, taste like to have home?”
That conversation led Lawson-Brown and Anderson to create
“From Gumbo to Mumbo,” a fusion of theater, hip-hop and poetry that
debuted last year at the Keegan Theatre. Through Sunday, the duo isperforming a streaming version of the show live from the Keegan
stage, filmed with pandemic-related health and safety measures in
place. Although the 2019 production of “From Gumbo to Mumbo” was
crafted for young audiences, Lawson-Brown describes this version as
a more “adult” performance that responds to the coronavirus
pandemic and the 2020 political climate.
“This is an exploration of humanity through the lens of Black men
who are just trying to claim home,” Lawson-Brown says. “That’s really
what’s at the core of ‘From Gumbo to Mumbo’ — using our voices
through poetry, hip-hop, dance and some random ranting and a lot of
humor to help shape what our experience has been.”
Deciding 24 hours just isn’t enough to do D.C. justice, the Southeast
resident has outlined a pair of perfect days in the District — one
catered to the warmth of spring or summer, and another built around
a brisk day in the fall or winter.
— as told to Thomas Floyd2015 PHOTO BY AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Henry Washington, 51, an entertainer with the Anacostia Rollers & Friends, glides around the skating pavilion at
Anacostia Park, one of Dwayne Lawson-Brown’s stops during his spring-summer dream day.BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST2011 PHOTO BY REBECCA D’ANGELO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
During the warmer seasons, Lawson-Brown
would head to Kenilworth Park & Aquatic
Gardens, at left, to take some photos, and in the
colder seasons, the day would include a stop at
Hill Country BBQ for karaoke night on with the
HariKaraoke Band providing the music.