NYC-DC-WJFK

Greetings from DC's Dupont Circle. Of my mondo run--4 events in 4 nights, 1000 miles apart--I'm halfway there. I enjoyed my first and only down time by bar hopping around Brooklyn then doing a great interview for BeerBasics.com where we basically drank 154 year old beer (OK, McSorley's is 154 years old; their house brew is fresher) That was Monday, and that night I had a blast hanging out at the Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village, seeing old friends and older ones still (my dad grew up in New York--Jamaica, Queens to be exact--so the whole gang came out, tried funny beers, and harassed the barflies who were leaving to buy a book). It

worked, as we sold-out. What'd I drink? I remember having two Southampton ales--Big Brown and Double White--Six Point's Porter on cask, and Alan from the BT was super cool and

brought over a corked bottle of Brooklyn Local 1. Sweet. Shouts to Daniela and Ryann and the SMP crew, Laura, Lora, Dan, Annie, Lila, Gabby, Erik, Kevin aka Sammy, Jeff, and Krista and her krewe.

I wish I had a day to walk around the Village, alas, I had to take the train back to Bklyn, get my stuff and my car, and zoom down I-95 to an in-air interview on the Mike O'Meara show (WJFK in the DC area). (Download & listen to it here, after a few minutes of talk radio fodder.) When you show up with cold beer, you're warmly received. I brought in a Southampton Pumpkin Ale (malty, seasonal, local) and a Stone IPA (hoppy, perennial, West Coast) and each one found a fan in the co-hosts, Mike and Robb.

I had a split second to see my old college friend Jane, her husband Marc, their 18-month-old baby Avi, and their dog Sputnik (think the Little Rascal's "Petey." Marc and I walked to the event, the famed Brickskeller (3rd-generation beer bar, in Guinness Book for biggest beer selection in the world, until recently, damn Belgians), and his guided tour included pointing out where the neighborhood high end brothel is. Alas, I didn't sell THAT many books. Besides, authors don't compare to senators when it comes to local celebs.

For the event, Greg Kitsock from Mid-Atlantic Brewing News (and many other outlets) interviewed me on stage upstairs at the legendary Brickskeller. Yep, mics and an unending supply of beers (Bell's Oktoberfest, Clipper City IPA-like hop bomb, and a Saison that the Brick's owner, Dave Alexander, had a hand in when at something called Beer Camp). It lasted over 2 hours. My first time hitting the Brick and though I hope to return many more times, it'll be my most memorable.

And now I'm leaving Kramer's & Afterwords, an indie bookstore and cafe, the kind you'd expect an author events coordinator to know about to bring in as a bookseller when doing a book promo event in DC, home to dozens of great indie booksellers.

Next up: Durham (and the entire Triangle area of), North Carolina.
Cheers.