“A stranger’s just a friend you haven’t met!” — the all-singing, all-dancing cast of Oh Streetcar! in The Simpsons episode “A Streetcar Named Marge” That lyric is something the Elizabeth Moore must have taken to heart, because the 24-year-old takes every opportunity to introduce herself to strangers, packing her calendar…
Interview 54: Space Oddity
The man in the picture below is Jeffrey Johnson. Now picture Jeffrey — a Washington, DC, resident — in a bright pink wig, dress and makeup, standing behind a piano and performing a cabaret show. You’ve just imagined his creation Special Agent Galactica, a hired assassin who travels through space…
Interview 53: Matt For DC
Well this is novel: I wrote up an interview the same month it occurred! Matt Abbruzzese is a New York state native who moved to the District of Columbia several years ago. He fell in love with the city, and started doing volunteer work for various community and local government…
Interview 52: Dinner With The Jazz Man
The first interview of 2014 is here. Hooray! In late January I sat down to dinner with DC-based jazz musician Aaron Myers. We met at the Mediterranean Spot, a small, friendly place in the U Street neighborhood. Over plates of shawarma, Aaron told me about his early introduction to jazz…
Interview 51: My Dinner With Jaws
Actor Richard Kiel is perhaps best known as the villain Jaws from two James Bond movies in the 1970s. And now he can be known as the 51st person to be interviewed for Dining With Strangers. It’s like winning an Oscar! All right, it’s nothing like winning an Oscar. Nevertheless,…
Interview 50: My Visit To Storyville
The second of my two recent(ish) interviews in New Orleans is online! Late in August — yes, I realize that my turnaround time on these articles is awfully slow — I had lunch with Josh and Natalie Harvey, owners of the custom design t-shirt company Storyville based in the Crescent…
Interview 49: The Food Critic
An update! An honest-to-goodness new interview! Today’s article is my dinner with New Orleans restaurant critic Tom Fitzmorris, the host of a long-running radio show dedicated solely to talking about food, in a city famed for its great restaurants. He also operates The New Orleans Menu website that’s overflowing with…
Interview 48: A Matter Of Life O’Death
Last weekend I was in New York and had an enjoyable lunch with David Rogers-Berry, the drummer for the band O’Death. Over plates of Mexican food in Brooklyn, he told me about how he got into music from an early age and his goals for the band. There’s much more…
Interview 47: The Mistress Of Melody
Earlier this month I was back in England to visit my family. On the way back to the States, I managed to sneak in a dinner with singer and songwriter Lorraine Bowen. Lorraine is a charming, funny and outgoing woman who writes quirky songs about offbeat subjects, including what goes…
Interview 46: Breakfast With Katelan
Woohoo, a new interview is finally online! The last interview I posted was in July, so let’s just say I’ve been slow-walking my efforts with this website. After all, it’s not my day job and taking people out to dinner can get expensive. But enough of that, on with the…