Occasionally (let’s face it, every week) I get Facebook event invites from people whom I don’t actually really know, and also occasionally (read: all the time) I show up at these events. Sometimes they turn out to be solidly good; sometimes excellent; and, if I’m lucky, sometimes truly awesome.
Well last night fell into truly awesome.
I have recently become a huge fan of storytelling events, so when I received the Facebook event invite to a themed storytelling event on 14th Street, I RSVPd without reading too many of the details. I wasn’t familiar with the venue – some place called Room & Board -, but I just figured it was one of the bars I had yet to explore.
Nope. It was that Room & Board — the furniture store. I walked in a little confused and was directed to the fourth floor. It was an enormous corner building, and each floor had an open layout with groups of couches, chairs, lamps, and coffee tables. Seeing no one on the first or second floors, I was growing suspicious of this supposed venue when I reached the third floor and began to hear lively chatter. And indeed, when I emerged onto the fourth floor, I realized I had stumbled upon a secret cocktail party.
This wasn’t storytelling!
Or maybe it was … but with free food and wine!
And a roof deck!
What?!
Well this was awesome. The event was benefiting the organization SOME (So Others Might Eat), so it did make sense that there would be food … sort of … I mean in the strictly comparative sense of food being the general overall theme (and in the sense that every benefit and every DC cocktail party is always more lavish than the cause it supports).
Anyway, irony aside, it was a bubbling party. I got my little plate of serrano ham-wrapped apricots and cheese and sat down on one of the convenient sofas (which, to Room & Board’s credit, were not wrapped in plastic (what faith they had in the etiquette and grace of DC wine drinkers!)). Free food, skyline views, and comfy seating … what more could you ask for?
Long story short (no pun intended), it was an incredible night. Seven storytellers told stories around the theme “need,” entertaining us throughout the night (and moving us from one furniture display to the next – a very clever way for Room & Board to show off its furniture (and fine by me because each chair or couch seemed more comfortable than the last)).
I never would have thought to host a storytelling event (or even a benefit) at a furniture store, but after last night, I have to say: That “new bar” I hadn’t heard of on 14th Street, Room & Board … it’ll go down in the books as one of my favorites. If the 14th Street Room & Board has an event listserv, please, somebody add me to it. And speaking of stories, now I have one of my own!
The Unfamous 