Expect the first of three upcoming interviews next week! For today, Throwback Thursday 49 is my August 2013 dinner with New Orleans food critic Tom Fitzmorris at the upscale restaurant Tommy’s Cuisine in the Central Business District. Tom, born and raised in the city, hosts a daily food show on…

Several interviews are in the works (I’m transcribing the 128th dinner and have two lined up for my trip to Atlanta this weekend) so come back soon to read those. In the meantime, here’s the 48th Throwback Thursday feature. In February 2013 I traveled to New York to meet goth…

The 47th Throwback Thursday interview was a joy: January 2013 dinner in London with Lorraine Bowen, also known as the Crumble Lady from Britain’s Got Talent. I met Lorraine two years before she was on the show, and at our meal she told me about her long, quirky musical career…

The 46th Throwback Thursday is breakfast with Katelan Foisy, a visual artist known as La Gitana: Mistress of Magic. We met in October 2012 at the since-shuttered Cosmopolitan Cafe in New York to talk about her creative work. She told me about her move to the Big Apple and how…

The 45th Throwback Thursday feature contains some rather adult language, because’s it my interview with gay porn performer Antonio Biaggi. I wrote this July 2012 article as a counterpoint to my July 2010 meal with gay for pay porn performer Malachi Marx (the 22nd stranger). While Malachi (not his real…

The 44th stranger I interviewed over dinner, back in May 2012, was with someone who really didn’t want to meet me. Kay Cameron was a part-time volunteer with the Washington Literacy Center, which teaches literacy skills to adults in the District of Columbia who read below a fifth grade level….

For the 43rd dinner interview, I traveled to Baltimore in April 2012 to have lunch with Ben Claassen III. He’s the charming creator of the comic strip DIRTFARM. He’s also the guy responsible for the illustrations that ran alongside Baggage Check — the advice column in DC’s now-defunct Express newspaper that…

The 42nd Throwback Thursday is my February 2012 meal at Bangkok Joe’s in Georgetown with experienced marketing communications executive Rozanne Weissman. She talked about her volunteer work, life in public relations, and shared the best way to crash parties in the District.

Christmas comes early for the 41st Throwback Thursday — my December 2011 dinner in Silver Spring, Maryland, with Ed Downey. At the time, he’d performed as Santa Claus for 29 years. Over a meal at Red Lobster he explained how a globetrotting past led to his current festive role.

The 40th Throwback Thursday is my December 2011 lunch in the District with Shamia Holloway, who at the time was communications manager for the Capital Area Food Bank. It’s the largest non-profit hunger organization in the DC region — also reaching into Maryland and Virginia — and its goal is…