Nightlife Highlights: Drink Company, Peach Pit, Gay/Bash and Sissy That Tuesday
Our picks of the best in nightlife in D.C. this week!
DRINK COMPANY: WUBBA LUBBA DUB PUB
UPDATE: This pop-up was forced to pop off late Friday, Aug. 17, as Turner Broadcasting/Cartoon Network reneged on a previous agreement allowing Drink Company to proceed.
Every few months, Derek Brown, Angie Fetherston, and their fellow Drink-ers take inspiration from a particular pop culture show or reference and go all-in — transforming three small connected spaces that used to house Brown’s hip Shaw dining spots into exhaustively designed, immersively themed pop-up bars, or PUB, that fans clamour to get hammered in. For the current incarnation, the team dives into Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, the animated series about an eccentric, alcoholic scientist who shows his grandson the world — and then some. Wubba Lubba Dub PUB offers interpretations of the show’s Anatomy Park, Rick’s garage-cum-laboratory, the iconic Space Cruiser, and Farmer Rick’s Mega Tree farm — all enhanced by Rick and Morty-themed cocktails, plus a few craft beer and wine options. Drink highlights this round include the refreshing tequila with watermelon and St. Germain concoction “Get Schwifty,” to “Existence is Pain,” an intense blend of gin, vermouth, blue curacao, and absinthe with coconut water and lemon. A few munchies — from pickles to pickle chips — are also available to purchase to wash down all the booze. Weekend evenings from 5 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Runs through Oct. 6. Drink Company, 1839 7th St. NW. Call 202-316-9396 or visit popupbardc.com.
DC9: PEACH PIT
Named for the diner on Beverly Hills, 90210, Peach Pit was started by DJ Matt Bailer more than eight years ago at Dahlek, the former Eritrean restaurant that also birthed Mixtape. Bailer describes the party as a “kind of sweaty mosh pit of guys and girls, straights and gays, black people and white people, old people and young people — all just dancing and singing at the top of their lungs.” Peach Pit is very strictly ’90s, as Bailer only plays and takes requests for tracks released between Jan. 1, 1990, and Dec. 31, 1999. Saturday, Aug. 18. Doors at 10:30 p.m. DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. Cover is $5, or $8 after midnight. Call 202-483-5000 or visit dcnine.com.
TRADE: GAY/BASH
Josh Vogelsong started his monthly alternative drag-focused party more than six years ago at the Black Cat, but it wasn’t until it moved to Trade that it became what he had long envisioned it could be. “People show up in looks, everybody comes dressed up,” Vogelsong says. “Everybody gets crazy during the show. You can just spray beer on the crowd, and they’d cheer and love it. It’s wild.” Miss LaBella Mafia is the featured guest performer at this month’s event, with additional shows to come from Vogelsong per his drag alter-ego Donna Slash, Jaxknife Complex, Salvadora Dali, and Jane Saw, with jams from Diyanna Monet. Saturday, Aug. 18. Doors at 10 p.m., with shows at 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. 1410 14th St. NW. Call 202-986-1094 or visit facebook.com/gaybashdc.
TRADE: SISSY THAT TUESDAY
Don’t let the drag name fool you: Jason Barnes may be Pussy Noir, but inside and out he’s as hot pink as the next Janelle Monáe-loving queer. And for the August edition of his popular monthly party, the aim, a la the Electric Lady, is to turn Trade “pink like the paradise found.” Wes the DJ will be behind the decks playing glam house tunes and Chaz Sonique behind the camera snapping glamour poses. Tuesday, Aug. 21. Doors at 8 p.m. 1410 14th St. NW. Call 202-986-1094 or visit tradebardc.com.
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