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It was like a scene out of "The People's Court" -- on one side the mostly white supporters of a gay-friendly bar, on the other the parishioners of a black church in Washington's historic Shaw neighborhood. Link To Original Article

By LESLEY ABRAVANEL lank@aol.com Last night's full moon may explain why you felt so strange. And why Skybar went all out with a drum circle and free mojitos for the so-called bohemian chic crowd that likes to pretend it's earthy by buying couture in muted earth tones. Either way, once in a blue -- er, full -- moon, it's fun to dance to a different drum. Drumming up a major contingency of disciples of its own is Studio A, which officially opened last Friday with a live performance by Juliette Lewis... Link To Original Article

You know you're up late when you flip past the infomercials only to find rugby on the sports channel. What are the rules of rugby? From what I could tell after watching two minutes of a match, there aren't any. Brutes the size of Goliath sprint up and down a grassy field as they sporadically jab and kick each other. An unfortunate fellow holds a silly looking football until the mob catches up. At this point in the game, the ball is either punted or tossed in an underhanded fashion. In either case... Link To Original Article

No music fits a beautiful, sunny day outdoors like reggae. And Bicentennial Park has landed the perfect lineup to enjoy tropical breezes while swaying to Jamaican rhythms. Link To Original Article

Few institutions are as beloved as the local dive bar. To some, a dive means a scary hole-in-the-wall, but we like to think of them as easygoing joints where you feel as comfortable as you do in your living room (though you have to wear more than just boxers -- usually). A few weeks ago, we asked... Link To Original Article

From behind his desk at his club a few blocks south of the Capitol, Ron Hunt ponders the future. He's playing simultaneous online poker games, brown eyes darting between dueling screens, his face illuminated by the white glow. Every few minutes, the computers make sounds like clinking chips. Between... Link To Original Article

On St. Patrick's Day, it's worth remembering that there are several dozen Irish (or Irish-themed) pubs in the Washington area, but have you ever noticed that they tend to stick together? Nanny O'Brien's and Four Green Fields sit across the street from each other in Cleveland Park, while... Link To Original Article

It's been tough to claim a slab of sand on the beach lately, what with spring break, fashion week and WMC tranceheads trying to catch a few zzz's before the next DJ set, and this weekend it won't be any different. The second annual Beach Ball Festival will attempt to kick sand in the face of its wimpier competitors as it sets up shop on the beach at Ocean Drive between Eighth and Ninth streets. Hosted by Covergirl and America's Next Top Model winner, Naima Mora, the... Link To Original Article

If you want to know the truth, I really couldn't care less about baseball. Maybe the New York Mets are better than the New York Yankees. Maybe the Florida Marlins are better than the Los Angeles Lakers, oops, the Dodgers. Link To Original Article

You know an artist is huge when it's not enough to merely list her hit songs to capture her essence: To adequately sum up Madonna's career and what she's meant Link To Original Article

No amount of Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey songs could mask the pain. One by one, until the wee hours Monday morning, the reigning drag queens of Half Street SE descended the stairs at Ziegfeld's cabaret to strut their last, blowing kisses to admirers and making a few more... Link To Original Article

Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval is constantly playing and promoting jazz: recording, teaching, composing, racking up awards, and performing around the world. But for a man who has always lived for and by the music he loves, this is not enough. Link To Original Article

By LESLEY ABRAVANEL lank@aol.com That noise you're hearing -- no, not the ringing in your ears from the phenomenon known as Winter Music Conference -- is a collective sigh of relief from many who are so thrilled that the MTV Video Music Awards aren't coming back to Miami this August. Sorry, stalkers, it's just that the VMAs had become for many a harassing chore, and when it comes to summers in Miami, chores are the last thing on many minds. But don't fret. We've got the Super Bowl in January, and... Link To Original Article

ON THE SCENE Gabe Berman seize18@aol.com Although I usually refrain from making references to the film, Police Academy, a scene from this Steve Guttenberg classic recently made its way to the movie screen in my mind: The young police cadets unsuspectingly found themselves in The Blue Oyster, a gay biker bar, and proceeded to slow-dance with the patrons until the wee hours of the morning. Link To Original Article

Melissa Etheridge fans are relieved, to say the least, that the 44-year-old singer has won a yearlong battle with breast cancer. So expect tickets to sell out quickly if not immediately to her show Aug. 19 at Boca Raton's Mizner Park Amphitheater. Link To Original Article

The*Final Four*is upon us, and since many bars in the Washington area offer the full NCAA package, it takes something special to stand out from the pack. For us, that could be a number of high-definition screens, cheering alumni, cheap drinks or a combination of all three. Here are 10 places we... Link To Original Article

Meet Jonathan Garcia and just try to come up with any impression but that of an average youth. At 18, he's approaching his high school graduation. He's making friends and cheering for his Southwest Miami Senior High School Eagles. Link To Original Article

So the Winter Music Conference is in full throttle and all we can think of is Barbra Streisand circa Yentl singing, ''Papa, can you hear me?'' The deafening sounds are music to many a DJ fanatic's ears, which, after years of attending WMC, will never be the same. That's OK, Pete Townsend is deaf, too, and he's cool. If the throbbing beats of the WMC make you feel as if you're having heart palpitations, perhaps a calmer kind of music is more up your alley, in the form of Musicfest 2006, a concert... Link To Original Article

Gabe Berman seize18@aol.com A few weeks ago, I dedicated every word of this column to Spring Breakers. That said, I'm finally facing the truth: No matter how hip I think I am, these sorority girls look at me as if I qualify for the senior discount at the movies. Link To Original Article

The king of all hard-rock festivals is back for its 11th year: It's Ozzfest 2006, barreling toward West Palm Beach's Sound Advice Amphitheatre Aug. 13. Link To Original Article

CHICAGO -- Glasses clink, friends chat in plush chairs and a fire crackles in a stone hearth at Marshall McGearty Tobacco Artisans, a "tobacco lounge" that has opened in Chicago's trendy Wicker Park neighborhood. Link To Original Article

Call it the revenge of unpopular culture. Everyone knows art in the age of digital reproduction has changed dramatically. We download songs, rent movies online, e-mail photos. Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine -- the bible of the electronic age -- has a name for the sea-change that has swept up films, books, and first and foremost music: The Long Tail. Link To Original Article

Saturday's Global Gathering concert signaled the beginning of Miami's own brand of March Madness: For the next 11 days, the city will be swarmed by electronic music fans, industry insiders, and, of course, spring breakers. Link To Original Article

You don't need to be Irish to party like Bono tonight, St. Patty's Day, when beer -- and, well, green -- is the new black. As always, people will be getting jiggy with it over at John Martin's in Coral Gables, where an all-day-and-night-long fest will have you hopped up like a leprechaun on crack, and at Clarke's in Miami Beach, where from noon until who knows when, you can gorge yourself on all the traditional Irish heavies including corned beef and cabbage, Irish... Link To Original Article

Prepping for St. Patrick's Day, I clicked to www.mur physlaw irishpub.com. The site boasts ''We're the only pub that's open 24/7.'' It sounded too good to be true so I called to investigate. It turns out that one of comedian Steven Wright's one-liners is applicable here: ``Open 24 hours, but not in a row.'' Link To Original Article