| |  | The “Party Animals” are coming. The “Party Animals” arecoming. Be on the lookout for jackasses (four-legged-ones, that |
| is) around town. Elephants too. In an attempt to attract thereturn of tourists, the D.C. Commission on the Arts andHumanities is awarding grants of $1,000 each to artists fromD.C. and surrounding areas to decorate 100 donkey and 100elephant sculptures with imaginative designs to show that D.C.has a “fun side” too. WL knew this! Each sculpture willmeasure 4.5 feet tall by 5 feet long and be displayedthroughout the city in traditional settings (maybe at theDepartment of Justice?) and in local neighborhoodsbeginning April 2002. According to D.C. Arts andHumanities Commission Chair Dorothy McSweeny,“The ‘Party Animals’ campaign will help convince peoplewho might not have been to Washington in awhilethat they should make another visit here soon.” Theexhibition will conclude with a public “Raucous Caucus”auction in the fall with the sculptures being sold to the highestbidder. Proceeds will go to the D.C. Arts Commission grantsprograms and Arts Education. Party Animals. Coming in April. | | 
| | Also, be on the lookout for young heroes. City YearWashington, D.C. launched its first-ever “Young Heroes”program, sponsored by the Fannie Mae Foundation inearly February. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams was thekeynote speaker at the ceremony held at Howard University’sBlackburn Center. Fifty diverse students, representing 15 areapublic, charter, and private-parochial schools, were chosenfrom among some 250 middle school applicants to participatein 6 months of community service encompassing buildinghomes for the needy, planting gardens, and painting murals aswell as learning leadership, public speaking, and conflict resolution skills.
| | Where there’s smoke, there’re cigars. Cigar Aficionado’s “The BigSmoke,” the recent sold-out event held at the Grand Hyatt featuringhandmade premium cigars, drinks, and food provided by leadingWashington restaurants, benefited CaP Cure, an organization that isseeking a cure for prostate cancer.Cigar Aficionado has raised millions of dollars for CaP Cureover the years. This was the first time that the event was held in Washington. | | 
| | Has “Lady Luck” smiled on you lately? We thought so. Nowthrough March 31, you can visit www.CafeMilano.net to playtheir slot machine game, “Lady Luck” (no coins required). Thegame is the trendy Georgetown eatery’s way of introducingpeople to their new high-tech installations such as Internet connectionsthat allow you to connect to the Internet from yourtable. The high-speed connection is DSL 1MB, 50 to 200 timesfaster than conventional dial-up or cellular, and without the hassleof finding a dataport to plug into. Café owner FrancoNuschese offers, “Need to confer with your business partnerin Milan or confirm a flight schedule? Now you can do itbetween bites. Journalists can write their articles and dispatchthem to their offices anyplace in the world.” You’ll never belonely at dinner again! Also newly available at Milano,real-time single and multicasting capability for eventssuch as executive meetings or celebrations.
| | The first-ever D.C. screening of the mock-documentarycomedy film “Bottomfeeders” will take place onMarch 3 at Visions Cinema in Northwest D.C. The screen-playexplores what goes on behind the scenes in a presidentialelection (it was shot on location at the 2000 DemocraticNational Convention in Los Angeles and at the RepublicanNational Convention in Philadelphia). Celia Fischer, a formerDemocratic campaign manager and consultant, won the prestigiousSamuel Goldwyn award for writing the screenplay.“Bottomfeeders” was an official selection of the D.C.Independent Film Festival. Advance tickets are recommended,and can be purchased through Visions Cinema’s box office. For directions, log ontowww.visionsdc.com/maps/index.shtml orwww.bottomfeederscentral.com/dctickets/html. | | 
| | The Tony Award winner for Best Musical “contact”opened February 19 and will be in town through March16 at The National Theatre. The musical has also wonthe Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Drama League Award for Best Musical. | | 
“Contact” cast member
Alan Campbell
| | Retailer Eileen Fisher will be opening two new stores inthe D.C. area in March, one at Montgomery Mall on 3/15 in Bethesda andanother at Tysons Galleria on 3/22 in McLean. The officialGrand Opening Events will take place at both locationson May 11, 2002, with 10% of event sales going to a local charity. | | 
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