Monday, March 22, 2010

what's up the pike: hiding out

Hiding Out
- If you missed free italian ice at Rita's last weekend, you can still get your frozen dessert fix gratis this Tuesday at Ben and Jerry's for their annual Free Cone Day. The only East County Ben and Jerry's is located at 903 Ellsworth in Downtown Silver Spring.

- Video Movie Liquidators, the sometimes-vendor of adult entertainment in Downtown Wheaton, will shut its doors for good this Friday, so hurry quick before their stock is completely, uh, liquidated.

- Another bike shop is opening up in Old Takoma: next month, stop by Takoma Bicycle, located at 7030 Carroll Avenue near Westmoreland Avenue. They'll sell and fix bikes - including used ones "acquired by trade-ins, donations, and even roadside trash picks – anything to keep more bikes out of the landfill," according to a press release from the Old Takoma Business Association. (Does dumpster-diving for bikes surprise anyone in Takoma Park?) Unlike The Green Commuter, which just opened three blocks away, Takoma Bicycle will not specialize in electric bikes.

- And at 7042 Carroll, local chain CD Gamexchange is opening a new branch. They're relocating from their store in College Park, where sales have been cramped by a crackdown on pawn shops in Prince George's County and competition from other video game stores. I'm curious if the Takoma store will cannibalize sales at their Silver Spring location, just two miles away on Georgia Avenue.

- You might know Sk8ter Mom for her skater advocacy and tearing-up of Downtown Silver Spring concrete, but when she puts down the skateboard she's got a pretty awesome jazz blog. You want the most comprehensive listing of local jazz shows? Better check this out.

1 comment:

Silver Spring Skaters said...

Thanks for the shout Dan. The research I've done for this blog has me convinced that other than New York, there is no place in the world for jazz, like DC. The DC area has more jazz venues, shows, musicians, educators, festivals, organizations. DC has institutions like the Smithsonian, which devotes a great deal of resources towards the preservation and promotion of jazz.

The Smithsonian has designated April as Jazz Appreciation Month. That would be a perfect time for restaurants and potential venues to start bringing more of that jazz to East County.