ShamrockFest, David Mamet and the Pretty Young Abercrombie Blonde

So ShamrockFest, Northern Virginia's premiere pre-St. Patrick's Day warmup drunkenness, was Saturday. You can skip the narrative and jump straight to the picture set, though you'll miss the story about David Mamet and the Pretty Young Abercrombie Blonde.

This was the first year it hasn't been in Arlington. I'd been on the fence about going, since paying for the privilege of standing in line to pay for beer just doesn't sound as appealing as it used to.

Of course, I usually overcome this sentiment. Plus, after I made up my mind to go, I got a VIP ticket hookup, which was pretty sweet.

I rode in with Lon, who drove us to Clarendon. I convinced him that it would be a good idea to park and Metro the rest of the way in (all 14 stops), so I successfully projected onto him my dislike of driving into DC.

We got in without very much hassle, though I have to admit that I was looking kind of sideways at people who go to these kinds of things and bring their own beads (and other tacky, beer-logoed holiday accessories).

Yes, I realize that it's the only time of year to break these things out.

Anyway, we got there a little after 1pm. It was pretty much a perfect day to be out.

Also, I ran into my friend Ellen, who was managing things in the VIP area:

I started taking pictures of people in funny hats:

We would end up seeing a lot more of the Big Killian's Hat, including here:

Also, we had a few opportunities to hear the District of Columbia Fire Department Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, and their rousing dance remix of "Amazing Grace":

Note the traditional flaskware at their belts.

Now, we get to the story of the Pretty Young Abercrombie Blonde. Study the following picture closely:

Note the sticker that says "Fuck You, You Fucking Fuck." Now, I'd thought that it was a David Mamet quote, but as far as I can tell, it's me misremembering and mutating a Mamet joke. You know, the one where a snooty businessman tells a panhandler "'Neither a borrower nor a lender be' -- Polonius", and the panhandler replies, "'Fuck you!' -- David Mamet" (another variation being "Fuck you, cocksucker!")

Anyway, that's probably why she had no idea why I asked her if she was a Mamet fan.

Meet the Bloggers

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In addition to kickballers and other unsavory types, I ran into some of the usual DC bloggers suspects:

Me, Red, I-66, Heather Barmore, ArJewTino, and KassyK.

Red reminded me that I haven't been posting very often.

Also, this being my first time meeting ArJewTino that I can recall, I told him that he was shorter than I expected (when I obviously meant to say, "I thought you would be larger than life.")

Since he was taking notes, I can only assume his recollection of my verbiage is the more accurate account:

The Aftermath

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Anyway, I managed to miss each one of the bands I was potentially interested in seeing (funny how that works when there's essentially free beer), so we headed back in for more fun (it was still early).

After getting separated at the Metro (where you can see the Girl Scout Cookie Guy)...

...we decided to rally at Lucky Bar (there was also a lot of empanada talk). So we got back in the car and drove there (negating that whole "not having to drive there" thing, though we did get Really Good Parking).

We partied there for a while with an engagement party (the family of which originally hailed from 2 exits up the Garden State Parkway from me. I asked. Yes, I asked, "What exit?" though I got a funny look until I told them "135.")

Finally, we raided Julia's Empanadas and eventually made it back.

So it was a pretty good day.

Tags: empanadas, lucky bar, shamrockfest, what exit